A 53-year-old Larnaca doctor pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to issuing fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates to his patients.

He remains free on bail, with the trial set to start in the Larnaca-Famagusta criminal court on April 11.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of conspiracy to defraud, drawing up a forged official document, circulation of a forged document, registration by false representations and false entries in records or other documents of the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO).

Six of the charges relate to one of his patients who died at the Famagusta reference hospital for coronavirus. Before he died, he confided to medical and nursing staff that he and secured a certificate of vaccination against Covid-19 without being vaccinated.

The remaining six charges relate to a second patient who also died while being treated for coronavirus at the reference hospital who also appeared in the Gesy system to have been vaccinated by the specific doctor but allegedly was not vaccinated.

The criminal court ordered the 53-year-old be released on €50,000 bail and to hand over all his travel documents. His name was put on the stop list.

No objections were made from the defendant’s defence lawyer.