The three prison guards who were arrested on Thursday night within the framework of the investigation into the murder of 41-year-old Turkish Cypriot Tansu Cidan, who was brutally beaten to death in Nicosia Central Prisons on October 27, 2022, seem to be in a difficult position, Phileleftheros reported on Saturday.
This emerges from what was said during a marathon procedure at the Nicosia District Court for the imprisonment of the three for eight days.
Giannos Giannakou, head of the investigation team, said the three prison guards are suspects of conspiracy to commit a felony, homicide, and neglect of duty.
During the process, witnesses testified that even though the three were aware of Cidan’s injuries, they did not do what was needed to prevent the worse.
The Police presented footage of the closed video surveillance system of the prison, according to which two of the guards (the third one was their supervisor) went to Cidan’s cell after he pressed the button to request help. However, the Kurdish inmate, who is the prime suspect in the murder case, convinced them that he was going to treat him and that the T/C had inflicted the injuries on himself because of family problems.
Footage shows the Kurdish inmate afterward quarreling with Cidan, hitting him brutally, and even though the latter pressed the help button again, the guards seemed to ignore it.
The whole process at the Nicosia District Court lasted more than five hours and despite objections by the prison guards’ lawyers, the Judge approved the request for the imprisonment of the three for eight days.
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