Five defendants plead not guilty in Thanasis Nicolaou private prosecution as case sent to trial
The five defendants in the private prosecution filed by the family of Thanasis Nicolaou pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. The court rejected preliminary objections from the defence and scheduled hearings for November 10 to 13 and November 23 to 27. The accused include forensic pathologist Panikos Stavrianos, former Limassol police director Andreas Iatropoulos, former Limassol CID head Nikos Sofokleous, former rural police head Christakis Nathanael, and former head of Platres police stations Christakis Kapiliotis. Tuesday marked 21 years since Nicolaou’s death, and his family emphasized they are pursuing justice where the State has not.
During the hearing, the defence continued to challenge the court’s jurisdiction, particularly Kapiliotis, who argued the allegations were disciplinary, not criminal, offences and accused the private prosecutors of abusing the process. He submitted evidence including Law Office letters advising against prosecutions and referenced financial support the family received from the Republic. The private prosecutors dismissed these claims as abuses of process, maintaining that the financial figures were incorrect and related to legal costs in previous cases. The case now advances toward trial to address the charges.
CYPRadar is a state-of-the-art, AI-powered Cyprus news aggregator that automatically crawls, filters, and translates local updates in real time. By continuously scanning a wide range of trusted Cypriot media outlets, blogs, and official RSS feeds, the platform identifies original stories and uses advanced language models to filter out duplicate coverage. The service then generates concise, objective summaries, ensuring that readers get a quick and clear understanding of every significant event without information overload.
The primary mission of CYPRadar is to provide comprehensive, multi-language coverage of Cyprus news to keep both residents and international visitors well-informed. The platform covers key events across all major cities and districts, including Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, and Famagusta. By offering all updates simultaneously in five languages — English, Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, and Turkish — CYPRadar bridges communication gaps and ensures that everyone has equal access to critical local information, from policy changes to community events.
Follow police reports, crime statistics, and justice updates in Cyprus. Read about local law enforcement operations, safety measures, judicial court cases, road safety controls, and community policing initiatives.