With a moving message, full of indignation but also pain for what he went through and is going through all these years, lawyer Andreas Pittatziis breaks his silence and talks about the much-lauded case with the Al Jazeera video. A video "obscenely edited" as he says, since the complete unedited video is far from what we saw in amazement on our screens exactly three years ago.
In his message, the lawyer from Paralimni describes his own calvary that few know about, which, as he says, led him to the edge of the cliff several times. At the same time, he does not fail to note the fact that he received the beatings of the people's courts and that he acted as a scapegoat for the benefit of - possibly - other large law firms that were proven to be accused of hundreds of golden passports.
Such is his post:
"THEY DESERVE!!
I have been fully acquitted of all charges I was facing as a result of the obscenely edited Al Jazeera video.
Turkish tank crawlers led by Qatar's Al Jazeera channel, passed over the country and bombarded it. With an obscenely edited and fake video, they won a hybrid war. A false video which created a conviction and a presumption of ongoing illegality. Feelings that caused justifiable anger, indignation and, unfortunately, universal prejudice.
Those who knew the truth remained silent... They knew that we had filed a complaint with MOKAS a year before the release of the video, the first working day after the meetings we had with the Al Jazeera masqueraders. The professionally and nationally criminal negligence of MOKAS was unfortunately forgotten. They knew that the video was edited and that the unedited one showed the exact opposite... They hid it.
The cries of the Colosseum drowned out the cries of truth. Scapegoats were sought to relieve the general outcry about the golden passports... "The rotten world where it was rotting was revived" wrote a poet. And some journalist told me "Truth doesn't sell".
I experienced a torture... Police investigation for Al Jazeera. Investigation by the Police on the minimum naturalizations of the office (Total 10 naturalizations out of 7200 given all over Cyprus). Investigation by the Police on the remaining activities of the office. Everyone around me was questioned. Twice investigated by the Association's Compliance Department. Investigation by the Bar Disciplinary and 2 disciplinary. Research by Banks. Closing the accounts of the entire family due to negative publications. Investigation by the Nicolatos Commission. Research by insurance companies. Investigation by the Home Office. Investigation by VAT. Nowhere from the Ministry of Finance. Deletion from the list of licensed providers of the Cyprus investment program. Announcements from the European Commission. Announcements even from the State Department of the United States. Accused in Criminal Court...
A whole world knelt on top of me to crush me...
I was vilified, humiliated, impeached, humiliated, reviled, investigated, persecuted and persecuted. My name, synonymous with corruption, dishonesty, frivolity.
My soul was filled with bruises... The body was a sack, dripping with blood, sweat and tears... I received the merciless beatings of populism, from all kinds of blaring cymbals that, using my corpse as a stage, blared and sold morality. They thirstily drank my tears and danced zeibeki with my pain. From my tears, the pool of Siloam was filled so that others, all of them, could wash away their sins. I forgive them!
I found myself many times, on the threshold of ultimate despair... But I was lucky to have dear people by my side. They know who they are... They helped me to climb Calvary by supporting me. Their support is untouchable. Their love is unconditional. Their advice is wise. I will be forever grateful to them. Now in my sofra only the chosen ones.
Real justice will not be considered, however, if Christakis Tziovanis and Antonis Antoniou are not vindicated. Who are still unjustly on the cross of martyrdom. My honor that we fought together. Where we cried together. Where we hit together. Where we hurt together. Where we dreamed of justice together. That in these 3 years we were each other's support.
I was many times on the threshold of the last despair... But when the bloodied soul wished the sleep of the night to become eternal, the faces below woke me up. And in a patronizing style they reminded me that the battle is not over. How I had to get up and continue the fight. How the sculpture of each person's life is shaped by the strokes of the chisel and not by caresses. That no matter how unfair the beatings, the righteous are not lost in the trials of time.
The blessed elder Androulla Papaevhelthontos, while again at the threshing floor of Haros... she had the greatness to always light a candle for me and my justification. My elder...I was vindicated!! Forever your memory... Thank you...
Andreas G. Pittatzis
Lawyer
Unjustly treated as corrupt.
Unfairly persecuted by some
Unjustly betrayed by his own Association
Unjustly condemned by the mob
But ultimately vindicated!"