The Supreme Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled against auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides’ opposition to the dismissal proceedings brought against him by attorney-general George Savvides.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that Savvides is permitted by the constitution to initiate proceedings against Michaelides.

Chief justice Antonis Liatsos confirmed that dismissal proceedings would take place on June 12, June 13, and June 14, and that the first witness called in the case would be Savvides himself.

His testimony against Michaelides, which currently stands at 109 pages, will be handed over to Michaelides’ lawyers in the days before the first hearing.

Speaking after the hearing, Savvides confirmed that President Nikos Christodoulides would not be called to testify during the case, but that he will be bound to act in accordance with the court’s final decision regarding Michaelides’ dismissal.

He added that the court now “intends to give priority to the trial of this case”, with the three days set aside for the hearing to be “full days of hearing the merits” thereof.

He said his side is “ready, even today, to start presenting its case”.

In addition, he said that should either side wish to call forward witnesses to testify, the court will have to be satisfied that the witnesses’ testimony will be “relevant to the matter pending before it” before they are allowed to take the stand.

He then called for “patience” heading into next week’s hearings, and then, asked whether Wednesday’s ruling can be considered to be his first “victory” in the case, said, “I have leant in my life to treat court proceedings as an ongoing effort which begins with the beginning and ends with the end.”

“It is not a matter of winning or anything else, it is a matter of the process proceeding on its merits, and it will proceed on its merits,” he said.

The Legal Service had filed the case against Michaelides citing inappropriate conduct regarding various investigations carried out by the audit service.

The proceedings will be a landmark case for Cyprus’ legal system, with the only similar case being the case of Rikkos Erotokritou, who was suspended as assistant attorney-general in 2015. Erotokritou was later sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of defrauding a public official, bribing public officials and other charges.

Michaelides immediately responded with a statement, describing the case as a “retaliation” for a complaint filed by his service regarding an alleged abuse of power on the part of deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides in May last year.

Angelides had at the time described the complaint as “deliberate targeting”, “dangerous behaviour”, and “bad faith”.

Michaelides said “the implementation of this retaliation has been underway for months and is now entering its final phase with the filing today of an application for my suspension from the position of auditor-general for alleged misconduct.

“These unsubstantiated accusations which the heads of the Legal Service throw at me and at the audit service at every opportunity will finally be able to be answered by independent and unbridled judges,” he said.

The initiation of proceedings in April had been preceded by a scathing interview given by Angelides to newspaper Kathimerini regarding Michaelides’ conduct.

“Any sane thinking person would demand to follow the only procedure which exists to control the behaviour of the auditor-general towards independent officials and others in the public sphere,” he said.

He said the “only option available to assess this behaviour” is to involve the judicial council in a process which, would “adjudicate an application to decide what constitutes misconduct for the purpose of dismissal.”