Report into prison controversy due on Thursday

The report into the explosive central prisons row between its director and the now suspended head of Ykan (drug squad) is due on Thursday.

Independent criminal investigator appointed to the case Achilleas Emilianides is set to hand over his report to Attorney-general Giorgos Savvides.

From there, Savvides will then look at whether criminal offences may have been committed.

The Cyprus News Agency cited sources as stating that the case as of Wednesday has not yet been finalised but is receiving its final touches.

Thursday also coincides with the expiration of the suspension for the Ykan boss. The justice minister will decide whether to lift the suspension depending on the report’s findings.

The row exploded in mid-June when prison director Anna Aristotelous alleged that a senior police officer – later reported to be the head of the drugs squad – was colluding with an inmate to secure damaging footage of her and her assistant.

That led to a series of investigations being launched.

The first, ordered by the attorney general, is much narrower in its scope and focuses on allegations made by Aristotelous.

A second investigation was deemed necessary after the courts found that a man behind bars – serving life sentences for murder – was the ringleader of two attempted murder attacks, having used a mobile phone while in prison to organise crime.

The deputy attorney general’s office also cited “recent reports” which allege rampant drug use inside the prisons.

Aristotelous and the unit’s senior officer Athina Demetriou asked to be transferred from their positions a day after the second investigation was announced.

There have been claims that alleged illegalities – drug and phone use, among others – continued long after Aristotelous took charge of the prisons.

Both Aristotelous and Demetriou have worked at the prison for eight years.