The family of army conscript Thanasis Nicolaou will file a private criminal case after the Attorney General closed the investigation of his death in 2005 without prosecution, despite evidence showing he was murdered.
On Tuesday, Attorney General George Savvides told the family he could not press charges against people allegedly involved in the murder case as no evidence against them had emerged.
Speaking to Sigma TV on Wednesday, lawyer Christos Triantafyllides said the family intends to open legal proceedings “against those tasked with investigating the guardsman’s death, three police officers serving at Limassol police headquarters at the time of his death.
“The family will also be filing a private criminal prosecution case against the state medical examiner handling the case”.
Triantafyllides clarified that the four people were named in the probe commissioned by the Legal Services conducted by investigators Savvas Matsas and Antonis Alexopoulos.
The probe was commissioned following a 2021 ruling by the European Human Rights Court, which found that authorities had botched the investigation into the guardsman’s death, wrongfully concluding he had taken his own life.
The lawyer said that positive developments are also expected in the lawsuit filed by the family against the Republic for the flawed investigation.
According to Triantafyllides, the Attorney General may accept a settlement based on the European Court of Human Rights decision and cover the family’s legal expenses and any compensations that may be awarded.
The Attorney General said: “The current leadership of the Legal Service did everything they could, under difficult circumstances of the passage of 18 years since the event, to clarify the circumstances and, if possible, those involved in the death of the unfortunate national guardsman.
“The Legal Service appointed the criminal investigators as the family requested.
“When the investigators said they had done all they could and it was up to the police to investigate further, we gave the order, and a special team was formed.
“The final report by the police revealed no evidence linking the people possibly responsible to the death of the unfortunate soldier”.
Bad smell
The case of Thanasis Nicolaou’s death was reopened 16 years later after his mother, Andriana Nicolaou, had relentlessly insisted that her son had not committed suicide but was murdered after stumbling on a drug ring in his army camp.
Nicolaou’s mother took to social media to slam the Attorney General, insisting the whole case smelt of a coverup.
“For 50 days, we have been waiting to get a response from the Attorney General to a letter we sent to him through our lawyer on how we proceed with our tragic case, which has been tormenting us for 18 whole years because of some corrupt people who have constantly been trying to cover it up,” wrote Nicolaou.
The soldier’s body was found under a bridge in Alassa, Limassol, in September 2005, about 12 kilometres from his home and barracks.
At the time, authorities were convinced that Nicolaou had committed suicide, but police had not questioned all his fellow army comrades, despite the victim reporting being bullied.
In February 2021, the ECHR ruled that authorities had botched the investigation into his death.
The probe conducted by investigators Savvas Matsas and Antonis Alexopoulos found that criminal acts were committed, proving the soldier did not commit suicide as initially believed.
In an interview, Matsas said that from his experience of 38 years in the Legal Service, he believed these police officers did not perform their duties adequately and honestly.
“I have never managed a case that, just by going through the evidence, has made me sick to the stomach and given me migraines.
“So many deliberate mistakes, so many omissions, so many distorted facts. I have never encountered anything similar in my long career,” Matsas had said.
