With three prison guards on duty when Turkish Cypriot Tansu Cidan was murdered by other inmates in his cell facing criminal charges and eight more under investigation prison staff unions are taking action.
Specifically, the prison guards branch of the Pancyprian Union of Public Servants on Monday will as for a meeting with acting director of the Cyprus Central Prison, Ioannis Kapnoulla.
Their aim is to raise concern over information that the imminent prosecution of their colleagues for neglect of duty.
The three others are facing charges of manslaughter as well as neglect of duty, even though they did not admit the charges.
In November, the court remanded the three suspects for eight days following testimony that they failed to respond to the inmate’s call for help prior to his death on October 27.
An autopsy showed Cidan had been beaten to death.
For the case, 15 people, of whom the majority are inmates, had been arrested.
Cidan had been arrested in April for drugs possession with intent to supply. He was serving a long-term sentence for “multiple crimes”.
