17 years for manslaughter in Chlorakas killing

Paphos criminal court on Thursday sentenced to 17 years in jail on the charge of manslaughter the main suspect in the slaying of a 20-year-old Syrian man that took place in April 2020, and another defendant to three years on the charge of abduction in the same case.

The two defendants – the first aged 23, the second 26 – had been wanted by authorities for approximately eight months after the incident, having fled to the north of the island. They were handed over by authorities in the north in December 2020.

On their arrest and appearance in a court in the south, they had both entered a not-guilty plea.

The sentences handed down will run from December 5, 2020 – the date on which they were placed into custody by authorities in the Republic of Cyprus.

Initially the charge against the 23-year-old was murder, later changed to manslaughter.

Nine other defendants – the accomplices of the two – are also facing trial as accessories after the fact and on the charge of kidnapping.

The court set September 22 as the date for the first hearings on these other nine suspects.

On the evening of April 10, 2020, the victim had been stabbed multiple times with a knife during an altercation in the Vrexi area on the coastal road between Chlorakas and Kato Paphos. The killing was related to matters of honour.

Nine other suspects aged between 19 and 31, all from Syria, were arrested in connection with the case, right after the body was found, but some of them said their aim was only to intimidate the 20-year-old and that they had tried to prevent his fatal injury. They were charged with manslaughter and kidnapping for the purpose of bodily harm to which they pled not guilty.