The moment of truth for Al Jazeera – It is possible that members of the Cabinet may be called as witnesses

In the absence of one of the defendants, who is suffering from coronavirus, the proceedings before the Permanent Criminal Court, sitting in Nicosia, continued for the criminal case concerning both the report of the Al Jazeera journalistic network and events within the framework of the exceptional naturalizations of foreign investors and businessmen, based on the conclusion prepared by the Nicolatos Committee.

Accused in the case are the former President of the House of Representatives, Dimitris Syllouris, the former AKEL Member of Parliament, Christakis Giovani, the lawyer, Andreas Pittatziis, and one of the managers of Mr. Giovani's company, Antonis Antoniou.

According to his report John Giorgallis SigmaLive, during today's hearing, Dimitris Syllouris's lawyer, Chris Triantafyllidis, raised the issue of abuse of judicial process, quoting a framework with seven points with pre-trial objections, which he sent to the Prosecuting Authority.

The seven points:

1. The honorable Attorney General of the Republic in his capacity during the essential time as a member of the Council of Ministers decided positively on the exceptional naturalization as a Cypriot citizen of the foreigner Nikolay Gornovskiy mentioned in categories 2 and 3 of the indictment, having for this purpose before him the opinions and recommendations of the competent Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus.
2. The honorable Assistant Prosecutor in his capacity during the material time as a member of the Council of Ministers decided positively to report with the exceptional naturalization of the alien Zaineh Alihilmi Armoush referred to in count 1 of the indictment and the alien Nikolay Gornovskiy referred to in counts 2 and 3 of the indictment, having before him in both cases the opinions and recommendations of the competent Authorities of the Republic of Cyprus.
3. The foreigner referred to in categories 4 and 5 of the indictment is a non-existent person.
4. No application has been submitted or pending at any time before the competent authorities of the Republic of Cyprus in relation to the foreigner referred to in categories 4 and 5 of the Indictment for the purpose of exceptional naturalization as a Cypriot citizen of the foreigner in question based on the Archives Population Law 141(I)2002 and the criteria established by the Council of Ministers.
5. The journalists of the Al Jazzera channel entered the residence of Accused 2 without disclosing their journalistic status for a significant period of time, pretending that they were investigating the possibility of naturalization as a Cypriot citizen of the person mentioned in the said charges, who is a non-existent person.
6. The journalists of Al Jazeera channel while in the house of the accused 2, videotaped and recorded the accused 1 without his knowledge and consent in this regard.
7. At no time did the competent authorities of the CD take legal measures, criminal or civil, against the Al Jazzeera channel or its journalists regarding the events mentioned above.

Abuse consists of:

1. Regarding categories 1, 2 and 3 with the involvement of the State at the level of the Council of Ministers with the participation of the Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General in shaping the events for which accused 1 is accused.
2. Regarding counts 4 and 5 involving an alien who is a non-existent person combined with the manner in which the accused was involved with said non-existent person, that is, the existence of an illegality consisting in the violation of the Constitutional right of the accused 1 under Article 15 of the Constitution.

The ball to the Accusing Authority

The representative of the Accusing Authority, Elli Papagapiou, stated that she will examine the seven points raised by the lawyer of Dimitris Syllouris and will answer whether she accepts that the facts are admissible. However, Chris Triantafyllidis explained that if he does not accept the framework he set or part of the framework, then he will request that the Attorney General, the Assistant Attorney General, the Minister of the Interior, the Chief Protocol Officer and a lawyer from a law office in Nicosia be called as witnesses in court.

For his part, the lawyer of Christakis Tzovanis and Antonis Antoniou, Giorgos Papaioannou, noted that "we consider that categories 1,3, 5, 12 lack legal basis because the offenses are based on a weak law, without legal force due to the fact that they violate article 7 of the Constitution and Article XNUMX of the ECHR".

Pittatziis: "Categories for the enjoyment of the Colosseum?"

On the other hand, Andreas Pittatzis, who is representing himself, said "I respect the positions of my colleagues, I will not present any objection or adopt any position, I do not seek acquittal but justice". After pleading not guilty to the charges against him, he questioned whether the charges against him were made knowingly or made to please the Colosseum, pointing in the direction of the journalists covering the court proceedings.

It is noted that the next trial was set for January 11 for the three who have not responded to the charges, while for Mr. Pittatzis the hearing was set for March 8 and 9.

Source: SigmaLive