Lawyers acting on behalf of former state pathologist Panicos Stavrianos on Friday sent a letter to President Nikos Christodoulides claiming his rights had been violated when he appealed a court ruling that conscript Thanasis Nicolaou had been strangled to death in 2005.

Stavrianos had found at the time that Nicolaou had committed suicide, but a Limassol district court ruling in May found that he had been strangled. Stavrianos then appealed that ruling on the basis that he was an interested party in the case and should have had the right to participate in court proceedings.

His final appeal at the supreme court ended without success last week, and his lawyers are now alleging that he was poorly treated during that hearing.

“At the start of the deposition session, our client was first informed that he was now suspected of committing eight serious criminal offences,” they said, adding, “we and our client were never informed of the reason for his recall and not told the real reason he had been asked to appear before the criminal investigators for a second time”.

They pointed out that Stavrianos “is a person with special needs” and mobility problems, and that despite that, “during the long process from 6pm on February 20 until 4.08am on February 21, in the early hours of the morning for a period of more than ten hours, our client was denied the opportunity for a rest or a break”.

They added that he was also denied access to food and drink and that “the only thing which was allowed during those hours, and let us make it clear that this took place in the wild early hours of the morning when most people are asleep, was a little water”.

Additionally, they alleged that criminal investigator Thanasis Athanasiou “displayed aggressive behaviour” towards Stavrianos.

“Our client was subjected to psychological violence … The perception was created that they would carry out an illegal attack against him. The methodology and manner of questioning of our client … was torturous, degrading, humiliating, inhumane, violent, and constituted a flagrant violation of our client’s rights as a suspect,” they said.

They thus called on Christodoulides to open an investigation into the matter and even initiate a criminal investigation against Athanasiou.

“Under the circumstances, it is found that it is impossible for the investigator in question to continue interrogating our client. Our client is certainly at the disposal of the authorities and it is necessary under the circumstances to replace him and appoint another criminal investigator,” they said.

Thanasis Athanasiou and Greek police lieutenant Lambros Pappas, who was appointed alongside him to investigate the case last year, responded to Stavrianos’ lawyers’ allegations later on Friday, saying they “do not correspond to the truth”.

They insisted that Stavrianos was accompanied by his lawyer when questioned, and that “we listened to and recorded in a statement, with particular intention and patience, what he told us”.

They added that it was Stavrianos who had requested that the hearing continue to allow him to continue his deposition.

“If the claim s made that Stavrianos’ rights have been violated in any way, especially in the presence of his lawyer, it is his inalienable right to file a complaint or even a denunciation wherever he feels appropriate,” they said.

They added that they had no further comment to make, as speaking more would “not preserve the prestige and seriousness of the criminal investigation”.

Stavrianos has long claimed that he is the wronged party in this affair, saying after one of his appeals failed in December that “perhaps I am the only person whose rights are violated without any remedy”.

“I expected the Supreme Court, based on the fact that my rights were violated and it recognised this, to come to a different conclusion. However, in the public interest, and to serve any perception, the findings of the investigation were not annulled,” he said.

“The court’s decision is respected, but I insist that the management and manner of the inquest was wrong and this will be proven by legal procedures which will follow this process, which we will study with our lawyers,” Stavrianos said.

The Limassol district court ruled in May last year that Nicolaou had been strangled to death, almost 19 years after Stavrianos’ ruling.

His mother Andriana Nicolaou had for nearly two decades campaigned to have Stavrianos’ ruling overturned, remaining adamant that her son had not committed suicide.

The investigation was carried out on the basis of the new information brought to light following exhumation and examination of Nicolaou’s bones in 2020, which led to the conclusion that his death was due to a criminal act and not a suicide.

Following the Limassol district court’s ruling, the government Pappas and Athanasiou to further investigate the matter. Their work had continued regardless.

Speaking after the announcement of the investigators’ appointment, Christodoulides called for the “truth to shine”.