Anna Aristotelous’ position as acting permanent secretary of the defence ministry was terminated on Thursday by the Public Service Commission, which named Ellikos Elia to the post in addition to serving the same post at the interior ministry.

The committee said it terminated Aristotelous’ duties as of Wednesday and appointed Elia from Wednesday until July 2.

The cabinet suspended former head of the central prisons Aristotelous from her post at the defence ministry on Wednesday over the classified state documents found in the residence of the prisons’ chief warden.

Her lawyer Christos Triantafyllides said Aristotelous was being used as a “scapegoat” and that she would be appealing the decision.

On Thursday, Aristotelous explained that she had not been called in to give a statement in the early stage of investigations but towards the end.

Speaking on state TV, she accused the investigators of coercing those questioned to testify against her.

She added that in letters, the lawyer of one of the people questioned named investigators who told his client they wanted “Anna’s head on a plate”.

Aristotelous wondered why these reports had not been investigated, adding that she would be making a complaint to the independent authority against corruption and would legally challenge the cabinet decision.

She furthermore accused police spokeswoman Kyriaki Lambrianidou of trying to create impressions against her.

On Thursday, Modestos Poyiatzis, legal advisor to deputy chief of police Michalis Katsounotos, who was at the time the drug squad chief and had allegedly attempted to secure damaging footage of Aristotelous while serving as head of the prisons, told CyBC that Katsounotos had called on Aristotelous to submit any evidence she had to the independent authority against corruption.

Poyiatzis said he did not wish to make any further statement, beyond what he had said on Wednesday, namely that Aristotelous’ allegations about “cannibalism” were “libelous and unsubstantiated”.

Aristotelous and the chief warden at the time Athena Demetriou had requested their transfer from the prisons to other public service postings in late 2022 after no charges were issued against Katsounotos.

Triantafyllides on Wednesday spoke of a “cannibalistic operation” eroding the presumption of innocence and ultimately character assassination, while Katsounotos had attempted to secure damaging footage of the two women, instead of being prosecuted, was promoted to deputy chief of police.

After Aristotelous left the post at the prisons, she had been appointed acting permanent secretary at the defence ministry and Humanitarian Commissioner.

Thursday’s suspension also impacts her position as commissioner.

“The cabinet, taking into account the content of the letters by the Cyprus police dated June 18 and 25, 2025, and having been briefed by the defence minister about the duties Anna Aristotelous is carrying out as acting permanent secretary of the defence ministry, decided to submit a recommendation to the civil service committee for reasons of public interest for the termination of the stand-in appointment of Aristotelous at the defence ministry as of June 25, 2025.”

As far as Demetriou is concerned, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said this was up to the Law Office, where she had been transferred on March 22, 2023.

Sources told Philenews that currently there was no reason or intention to recommend she be suspended.

Meanwhile, investigators are compiling the case regarding the classified documents.

In May 2025, four prison wardens and a female police cadet were arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into documents found in the residence of a prison warden in early April.

Among the little information available, the material found in the prison warden’s home is said to have included documents relating to the 2018-2022 period, architectural schematics of the central prisons, original documents, copies of documents with authentic signatures, and files on prison inmates.

The suspects were later released as “no data emerged which would justify their further detention”.

The bulk of the material is believed to have been taken out of the central prison between November and December 2022.

Triantafyllides added that his clients were called in to testify and some points were “selectively leaked” to the press, giving false impressions, “for the purpose of tarnishing, completely eroding the presumption of innocence and ultimately character assassination”.