The justice ministry on Tuesday appointed an acting prison director the simultaneous absence of the director and her deputy who are on sick leave until January 20.

The temporary replacement is Famagusta police deputy chief Ioannis Kapnoullas “who fulfils all the qualifications required by the service plan of the Director of the Prisons Department,” the justice ministry said.

Kapnoullas holds a degree in criminology from the University of Portsmouth, a Master’s degree in International and European Economic Law from Neapolis University and a Master’s degree in National Security Strategy and Policy Studies from the National Security School of Greece.

He has considerable experience in personnel management and security maintenance, having held a rank in the police since 1999 and since serving as head of various departments, the announcement said.

The officer will carry out the deputy director’s duties as of Tuesday until the end of prison director Anna Aristotelous’ sick leave on January 20.

The replacement was considered necessary after the most senior officer of the prisons department, who was in charge while the director was on medical leave, also took sick leave.

Aristotelous and her assistant, Athena Demetriou, had requested their transfer to another public service last year, listing a number of reasons and raising security issues.

This came after the legal service found no evidence of corruption against senior police officer Ioannis Katsounotos who was accused by Aristotelous as having collided with an inmate to secure damaging footage of her and Demetriou.