Setting out the actions of forensic pathologist Panikos Stavrianou and the police authorities, independent criminal investigator Savvas Matsas proceeded with a torrential testimony before the coroner, Doria Varosiotou.
He spoke of omissions touching the limits of concealment, of hasty investigation, and also the fact that the Police were misled. He emphasized that the case should be investigated as murder or at least manslaughter.
Matsas’s testimony was not completed yesterday and is expected to continue today, as an unexpected interruption occurred when it was found by the coroner that appendices concerning testimonies and documents taken by the criminal investigators, S. Matsas and A. Alexopoulos, were missing from the report submitted as evidence (for the second time).
Matsas revealed the living conditions of Thanasis and the harrowing moments he experienced in the headquarters camp of the III Special Forces in Polemidia where he served, describing in detail what witnesses said about the bullying he endured from other soldiers.
With descriptions that provoke shock and horror, he said his life was torturous.
“He suffered constant and relentless bullying from three of his fellow soldiers, in various ways. He was a civilized man with principles, low-key, with deep religious faith,” he said, adding that some took advantage of him and forced him to do their chores.
“They called him ‘Aussie’, they called him ‘kangaroo’. When he returned from duty, they would put notes on the soles of his feet and set them on fire while he slept. They made him confess his love to the lamp,” Matsas said, with those present in the courtroom freezing.
He also added that the deceased didn’t tell his mother anything about what he was going through, stating that he knew those were very bad people.
“Two days before his death, Thanasis asked for a transfer from his commander,” the witness said, explaining that this might not have been considered as facing such great danger.
Reference was also made to the last days before he was found dead, with Thanasis “returning from duty, saying to other soldiers: ‘What are you doing here?’ and that ‘it smells like incense.’ He was attacked with various insults, went to the camp commander and told him about it, and two days later, he was found dead.”
Among other things, he said that Thanasis’s body was frozen after the examination by the doctor, Andreas Koureas, comparing it with the testimony of Stavrianou, that after an hour of arriving at the scene, he said the body was warm.
“How is it possible that at 5:30 in the afternoon he was frozen and at 6:30 he was warm?” Matsas wondered.
Savvas Matsas referred to the testimonies of the present officers, saying that within ten to fifteen minutes, Stavrianos, without carrying a special thermometer with him, concluded it was a suicide. “With a touch of his hand, he said Thanasis was warm, said it was suicide, a fall from height, and ruled out criminal action.”
After Stavrianos’s report that it was suicide and the exclusion of criminal action, Iatropoulos decided it was an unnatural death and the case was classified as a minor offense, and the investigation was assigned to an inexperienced police officer from the Larnaca Police Station, Matsas testified regarding the instructions given for the investigation.
He also pointed out that in his 37 years of service in the Legal Service, he did not observe a more negligent and irresponsible investigation of such a serious incident.
He explained that there was not a single bruise where Thanasis was found dead, while the bridge is 30 meters high. “Thanasis weighed 62 kilos. With gravity, his weight multiplied on impact. He fell at a speed of 71 kilometers and had absolutely no compatible injury with a fall from such a height. He was in a position as if he were sunbathing.”
“There were only bruises on his shoulder, on his back, on his right arm, and on his neck. These are elements that a rudimentary knowledge of investigating serious criminal offenses should have seen, identified, and the only instructions given should have been for the case to be investigated as murder or at least manslaughter.”
Asked if Stavrianos testified to them, he said he refused to answer and to the 39 questions they asked him.
During the hearing process, it was observed that annexes of the report by the criminal investigators, submitted to the Court, were missing, leading to a suspension of the procedure.
As the Judge pointed out, the missing annexes of the report constitute significant elements. “I cannot conduct the police and carry out a police investigation if any document is missing,” stated the Judge.
The representative of the Legal Service will handle the matter, stating that she will obtain copies of the annexes which she will deliver today.
Furthermore, before Matsas’s testimony began, the presiding judge dismissed the two requests submitted by the lawyers of the Nikolaou family, including the deposition of forensic pathologist Elpida Spanoudaki and the re-summoning of police officer Meli Antoniou for the testimony given to the police regarding the confession of involvement in the killing of Thanasis Nikolaou, along with others.
