Complaint filed over police raid that ended with Bangladeshi man’s death

Police on Friday were accused of lying over their version of events about a raid on a Limassol flat that ended with the death of one Bangladeshi national.

As questions rained on the force, a protest was organised to take place on Saturday in memory of Anisur Rahman, 24, who fell to his death as he tried to escape from police officers.

Lawyer Michalis Paraskevas slammed the fact that police did not have a search warrant before entering the fifth-floor apartment that housed 11 men from Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Kisa NGO has filed a complaint to the independent authority handling complaints against police officers.

It challenged the police narrative that two officers were consensually admitted to the flat – which has been listed as dangerous to live in but was rented out for a reported €2,000.

Kisa chairman Doros Polykarpou said they had testimony claiming the door was broken down and five or six police officers barged in, handcuffing people as they woke from the fracas.

According to Polykarpou, in a state of panic, Rahman jumped out of a window to escape. His autopsy showed he died from severe craniocerebral injury and his spine was severed due to a fall from a height.

A second man, aged 22, who tried to get away from the balcony into the apartment below ended up falling to the ground and is in serious condition.

Kisa said they had no access to any information about the man’s health status, despite repeated attempts to do so.

Police was not immediately available for comment and has insisted from the onset that officers followed due process, and the Bangladeshi nationals lived in Cyprus illegally.

Spokesman for the force Christos Andreou likened the rules for a raid to that of a census check earlier in the week when pressed to clarify whether police requires a warrant to enter someone’s home for these cases.

He underlined that such instances do not require a warrant.

Paraskevas slammed the narrative in its entirety, saying the only time officers are allowed to step into someone’s home without a warrant is if someone is in danger.

“At the very least, there needs to be an investigation in the conditions of which this operation took place.”

He told the Cyprus Mail this is no longer “as simple of a case” as police is presenting it to be.

More importantly, he claims that this is how officers have been carrying out such operations for years without anyone batting an eye.

“The difference is that this time someone died.”

With police unable to respond to these claims, the Cyprus Mail could not independently confirm the allegations, however Andreou had been invited to a news show on Alpha earlier in the day with both Paraskevas and Polykarpou but refused, according to the presenter.

Paraskevas sought to stress that Rahman’s death should not be put on the same narrative as Cyprus’ struggles with the increasing flow of migration.

“This is a person that has lost his life.” How police handle these cases is equally important under the rule of law, he underlined.

The protest will be held next to Limassol’s Ayia Napa church opposite the EAC building at 12pm. It will then move outside the police CID offices.

There have yet to be any developments announced over the landlord who rented out the apartment in a building listed as illegal. Though police said he would be called to present the rental contract, Andreou could not give an update other than “there is an ongoing investigation.”