AG called on to detail all overturned prosecutions
An MP on Monday asked the attorney-general’s office to hand over information on how many criminal prosecutions have been discontinued under the watch of attorney-general George Savvides and his deputy Savvas Angelides.
The request was made by Akel’s Irene Charalambides, chair of the House human rights committee.
Charalambides said the information she seeks relates to the period since the AG and his deputy took office.
Both men were appointed to their current positions in June 2020.
In doing so, the Akel MP was narrowing down her scope of inquiry to Savvides and Angelides, after the latter recently came under heavy scrutiny for staying the prosecution of a man charged with rape.
In addition, Charalambides asked that the information provided include the nature of the charges filed in prosecutions that were discontinued.
In a recent ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that the Republic of Cyprus had violated a woman’s human rights.
The woman had reported that she had been raped in January 2011, when she was just 18 years old. However, according to the attorney-general’s office, evidence emerging subsequently raised doubts regarding the consistency of her account.
In December 2021, Angelides decided to stay the prosecution, with the woman then appealing that decision and eventually reaching the ECtHR, which awarded her €20,000 in damages and €15,470 in legal costs.
Following the European court’s finding, Angelides faced calls for his resignation, with the woman herself calling on President Nikos Christodoulides to dismiss him and saying that Angelides “forever went down in Europe’s legal history as a sexist, victim blamer, incapable of guaranteeing basic human rights”.
In a press conference last week, Angelides brushed off calls for his resignation.
Also on Monday, MPs at the House human rights committee called for the establishment of an independent body to track ECtHR rulings relating to Cyprus. Discussion of this issue is at an early stage.
The government has meantime tabled more than 30 bills aimed at reforming the functioning of the attorney-general’s office. The main thrust of the proposed legislation has to do with dividing the role of the office. It would establish the position of director of public prosecutions (DPP), with both the AG and the DPP to have deputies.
The AG would remain as the state’s legal adviser and the head of the attorney-general’s office, while the DPP and deputy would undertake the AG’s current responsibilities relating to prosecutions.
In addition, all four roles would be limited to a single eight-year term. And all would be required to retire either at the end of the term or on their 68th birthday, whichever comes first.
Moreover, an official with the justice ministry told MPs that a bill is being drafted involving checks and balances on the attorney-general’s office. It will spell out the criteria for discontinuing prosecutions and make it mandatory to explain in each case the grounds for discontinuation.
The bill is expected to be tabled to parliament in September. According to the same ministry official, it takes into account various matters adduced in the recent ECtHR judgement.