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Our View: Sarris should not be tempted to return to justice of kangaroo court
Michalis Sarris
FORMER Finance Minister Michalis Sarris was charged by the Turkish Cypriot ‘court’ and released yesterday afternoon, after being held for seven days in a police cell, without justification other than to give time to Turkish Cypriot police to come up with allegedly incriminating evidence against him. This included using youths, who had been beaten up while in police custody, as witnesses against him.
Yesterday, the police said they had another witness who was being held in connection with a minor drug offence as a witness. Sarris was released on bail, with a trial set for November 16, facing charges of committing an unnatural act, conspiracy to commit a felony and indecent assault.
He would be very unwise to return to a kangaroo court in a place which regards consensual adult same-sex sexual activity a criminal offence, where police routinely abuse their powers, where there is total disregard for the rights of suspects and judges seem terrified of questioning police actions. Is there any chance of a fair trial in a ‘court’ that tolerates the use of fabricated evidence by the police?
The primary witness, a 17-year-old youth arrested with Sarris, on Monday told the court that he wanted to withdraw his confession because it had been extracted under duress. A doctor who had examined him on Friday and saw him again on Monday said he had a wound on his head he did not have on Friday, thus supporting his claim that he had been beaten up. The same doctor testified there had been no sexual contact between the two, yet the judge renewed the remand order, sending the 17-year-old back to the police cell and putting his safety at risk.
Apart from the persecution of homosexuals, the way the Turkish Cypriot police treat teenagers is truly disgusting. They are now hoping to back the charges they had brought against Sarris, by using youths held in connection with other offences. Did they give them a good beating to ensure they would provide incriminating evidence?
This whole case has been a complete farce right from the start, when the Turkish Cypriot police broke into the house in which Sarris and his friends were, and claimed they were investigating a case of sex with minors, which was a blatant lie, casting aspersions on the reputation of a good man in the process. Suspects have been beaten up, and youngsters held in connection with unrelated offences are being used as witnesses.
Sarris should stay away from the ‘court’ of this brutal regime which has proved its contempt for human rights.
