Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-05-17

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Thursday, May 17, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Stangos backers slam Greek court decision

[02] Markides hits out at media group

[03] Pensioner released by the Turks

[04] Greens lash out at continued asbestos use

[05] Dutch tourists wanted for Oroklini bank robbery

[06] Tsangarides cleared in pink slips trial

[01] Stangos backers slam Greek court decision

A GREEK man convicted of defaming Limassol Bishop Athanassios in an explicit letter to the Holy Synod, yesterday insisted his allegations that the bishop was homosexual were true, claiming that the Salonica court that found him guilty had been biased against him.

Thirty-four-year-old hairdresser Christos Stangos was on Tuesday sentenced to two years and eight months in jail for defaming Athanassios. He remains free pending an appeal against his conviction.

Last year, Stangos wrote an explicit letter to the Holy Synod describing an alleged sexual encounter with Athanassios when they were both on Mount Athos between 1982 and 1987.

The letter was submitted as evidence of allegations that the Bishop of Limassol was gay.

Athanassios -- who dismissed the allegations as part of a conspiracy to defame him -- was cleared in November last year by a Major Synod, called to convene in Cyprus for only the second time in the Church's history.

Two archimandrites, Andreas Constantinides and Chrysostomos Argyrides, were suspended by their Synod for their involvement in propagating the allegations. They were later charged in court with conspiring against Athanassios, but the charges were withdrawn by the Attorney-general citing reasons of public interest.

However the Bishop of Limassol also appealed to the Greek courts in the case against Stangos, who is a Greek national.

After a speedy procedure, a court in Salonica found Stangos guilty of defamation. The conviction yesterday provoked an angry reaction from Stangos' defenders in Cyprus.

Bishop Chrysostomos of Paphos, who flew to Salonica to testify in Stangos' defence, was the first to dispute the proceedings.

Chrysostomos was accompanied to Salonica by Bishop Georgios of Arsinoe.

The two bishops have been accused by Athanassios of spearheading the alleged conspiracy to discredit him. They deny the allegations but have made no secret of their distaste for the popular Limassol Bishop.

Also present at the trial was Archimandrite Constantinides, who took Stangos under his wing when he came to Cyprus to level his accusations against Athanassios.

Yesterday, Constantinides defended his protégé, claiming the trial had been a parody of justice.

Constantinides claimed Athanassios had powerful friends in many areas, suggesting they had pulled strings to get the decisions in his favour, both before the Major Synod and the Salonica court.

"Things are not what they seem," Constantinides said cryptically.

"They have such powers that they can infiltrate courts and the Church authorities; they can buy off the whole world, not only the courts," he added.

Stangos accused the court of being biased, claiming the decision to convict him had been taken long before the trial.

He stood by his allegations against Bishop Athanassios, adding he was sure his appeal would be upheld by a higher court.

But in rare comments to the press, Bishop Athanassios said yesterday the whole business was horrible, but necessary for the truth to shine, since "Mr. Stangos and his associates remain unrepentant".

Athanassios said he was not surprised at claims that the trial had been a sham.

"What else would he say?

"The Major Synod was a parody, the (Cyprus) courts are a parody, foreign courts are a parody.

"What else would the poor man say?

"May God bless him."

Athanassios suggested Stangos was serving somebody else's sinister plans.

"I am very sorry for this and I pray that God would show them the way," he said.

The Bishop of Limassol is seen as having taken over from the Bishop of Paphos as the favourite to be the next Archbishop, enjoying both popular support and the current Archbishop's backing.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Markides hits out at media group

THE NORMALLY restrained Attorney-general Alecos Markides yesterday launched a stinging attack on the owner of a large media group whom he accused of conducting a campaign against him in retaliation for legal decisions affecting the group.

Yesterday, Markides told a CyBC reporter that he was coming under attack from the media group Dias and its boss Costas Hadjicostis, who the Attorney- general said was using all means at his disposal to hurt him.

Hadjicostis is the owner of Sigma television, Radio Proto, Simerini daily newspaper, and several weekly publications.

Markides said the attack against him were so bitter that they probably violated Article 19 of the Constitution, which governs freedom of speech and expression in any form.

He said that the group accused him of being ineffective, but alleged ulterior motives behind the criticism.

Markides suggested that Hadjicostis held a grudge because the legal service had banned his newspaper's lottery, ruling that no one apart from the government could hold a lottery.

The case is still pending in court, and another point of friction between the two men could be the fact that Hadjicostis himself is the defendant in that case.

Markides argued that Dias was also out to get him because he was prosecuting popular Sigma reporter Demetris Mamas.

According to Markides, Mamas may have prejudiced the trial of a criminal suspect when he hosted a show where the man's ex fiancée, until then a prosecution witness, said she still loved the suspect and had changed her mind.

"They chose to support the defendant (Mamas), attacking the Attorney- general who took a difficult decision while doing his duty," Markides said.

Markides said his decision to prosecute Mamas could be wrong, but that was up to the court to say, not the defendant, nor his employer, nor himself.

"The verdict belongs to the court. I have done my duty in good faith."

Markides warned that if Dias was allowed to prevail and force him to resign or withdraw the case or leave them unchecked to do whatever they wanted, it would be a big problem over which he was ready to fight till the end.

"I will fight and if necessary fall," Markides said.

He added: "But if I fall over this issue I warn everyone that it is democracy which is undermined."

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Pensioner released by the Turks

A GREEK Cypriot pensioner held in the occupied areas since Sunday night was yesterday released from custody, returning to a tearful homecoming with his family at the Ledra Palace checkpoint.

Costas Dalitis, 74, had originally been scheduled to appear before a Turkish Cypriot 'court' in north Nicosia on charges of alleged drink driving today, but was released instead yesterday morning.

Unconfirmed reports suggested he may have been the first Greek Cypriot to be released by the Turkish Cypriots without a formal court appearance.

It is it clear why the man was set free so suddenly. The UN said yesterday that they knew nothing.

But, as a retired news chief at Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), Dalitis may have benefited from the close ties between the Union of Cyprus Journalists and their colleagues in the north.

He stumbled across the Ledra Palace checkpoint at lunchtime, bursting into tears when he saw the outstretched arms of his family.

He hugged his grandson and told a gathering of reporters that the Turkish Cypriots had not mistreated him, just that the food, while OK, was a bit different.

An UNFICYP officer accompanied him from north to south and a UN doctor declared him to be in good health.

Dalitis had been apprehended while driving his motorcycle on the old Nicosia to Larnaca road, after he allegedly crossed the buffer zone near Dhali, at around 8.20pm on Sunday.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Greens lash out at continued asbestos use

THE GREEN Party has once again lashed out at the government for its alleged lack of action in fighting the alarmingly high rates of asbestos related cancers on the island.

"It is a part of a 10-year campaign. We have been working for the past 10 years to ban asbestos from Cyprus life," Green Party spokesman George Perdikis told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

"Everywhere in Cyprus you will find asbestos products," said the Greens' spokesman.

The Green Party feels that the government has been unacceptable slow to act on this matter and points to the British Bases, where the substance was banned two years ago.

According to Perdikis, a Ministry of Health survey reveals "Cyprus is the first country in the world for asbestos-related cancer."

Officials at the Health Ministry's Cancer Registry were unavailable yesterday to confirm this allegation.

Cyprus is one of the top asbestos producing countries in the world, alongside Canada, Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United States.

"Cyprus was one of the first countries to use asbestos products because of the asbestos mine near Troodos," says Perdikis.

Three major types of asbestos products are common on the island: roofs, pipes and asbestos brake pads for cars.

A Green Party statement issued this week claimed there were thousands of reports concerning asbestos roofs at army barracks around the island. It added that work was under way at the Paphos Gate fire station in Nicosia, to replace the asbestos roof without having to move the fire fighters away, while in some army camps, work to replace roofs began after the party complained.

The same statement says that the President Glafcos Clerides, and the Minister of Education have promised to replace all asbestos from all schools in Paphos.

The Greens also warn that many government buildings still have asbestos roofs.

One location is the Public Works Dept and the Water Department, where workers are in constant contact with asbestos pipes and asbestos dust, especially when cutting the pipes. According to the Green Party's information, safety regulations are not enforced. They also claim to have informed the Agriculture Ministry about this, and a memo has been published, but the situation has not improved. It also accuses the Water Department of leaving asbestos materials exposed, a cause for concern to residents in Paliometocho.

On a separate front, the Greens charge that although the import of asbestos brake pads has been prohibited, the Trade Ministry is not moving to confiscate existing supplies.

It says the Ministry has discovered £20,000 worth of brake pads stored on the island, but decided the amount was too valuable to recall.

Finally, the statement says that five containers filled with asbestos fibre are located at the Electricity Authority's the old the power station in Dhekelia, which is being dismantled. "It appears that they don't know how to dispose of the material," declares the statement.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Dutch tourists wanted for Oroklini bank robbery

POLICE said yesterday they believed two Dutch tourists were behind the robbery at a Bank of Cyprus branch near Larnaca on Tuesday morning.

The suspects - two brothers aged 27 and 24 - are thought to have left the island on a flight back to Holland leaving Larnaca at 10.15pm on Tuesday night.

Two masked men broke into the Oroklini branch of the Bank of Cyprus before it opened to the public on Tuesday morning, forcing their way past a cleaner as she went in through a service entrance. They grabbed the keys to the safe and made off with £47,535 in Cyprus pounds and £3,710 worth of foreign currency.

Witnesses gave police a description of the suspects as they changed cars shortly after the robbery.

Police have issued arrest warrants for the brothers and have passed on a request for assistance to Dutch police through Interpol. The suspects had been staying at a hotel in the Larnaca area.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Tsangarides cleared in pink slips trial

THE FOREIGN workers' agent accused of drawing up fake work permits was yesterday acquitted by the Nicosia district court.

The court said it believed Andreas Tsangarides' claims that he did not know that foreign workers had to have a valid work permit or 'pink slip' before starting work in Cyprus.

In March, Tsangarides denied telling foreign workers that they could start work before their permits were issued and told the court he was a victim of a conspiracy to blacken his name.

He alleged that his agency merely found jobs for workers. After that, it was up to them to take care of the paperwork.

He claimed he rarely stayed in contact with employers beyond the initial stage.

The former DISY organisational secretary was arrested in 1999 after a massive police investigation into allegations of corrupt 'pink slip' practices.

A number of other officials and three members of the police force were also charged or arrested in relation to the scandal.

Tsangarides pleaded not guilty on four counts of collaboration in the illegal employment of foreigners, after the court threw out 27 of the 31 charges lodged against him in February.

In a separate case, former immigration chief Christodoulos Nicolaides has also pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery and corruption in allegedly fixing pink slips for cabaret girls.

Related to Tsangarides by marriage, he was sacked from the civil service in 1999 when the scandal broke.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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