The Nicosia criminal court will pass sentence on September 10 for five people found guilty of the murder of Turkish Cypriot Tansu Cidan in the central prisons in Nicosia.

On Wednesday, the court heard defence arguments for sentence mitigation, with lawyers citing, among other factors, the defendants’ personal and family circumstances.

On July 29, the court found five people guilty over Cidan’s death in 2022.

The defendants included two fellow inmates and three prison guards. Inmate Veyzi Bandur was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of premeditated murder after testimony showed he had “repeatedly and for a long time” beaten Cidan both the day before and on the day of the killing.

Bandur and another inmate, Mohammadian Reza, were also found guilty of possessing and supplying illegal drugs.

Two of the three prison guards, Giorgos Kyriakides and Savvas Christou, were found guilty of manslaughter after the court ruled they had caused Cidan’s death “through unlawful omission”.

Kyriakides, Christou, and fellow guard Stelios Georgiou were also convicted of causing death through a reckless and careless act, as well as neglect of duty, for failing to take protective measures.

Two other defendants, Kaya Derga and Abdulkarim Abdulkarim, had previously pleaded guilty to other charges and testified for the prosecution.

Elias Stefanou, representing Kyriakides and Christou, argued that both men had clean criminal records and that the offence had not been committed intentionally or through negligence. He said the wardens now faced “evident danger and adverse consequences” upon their return to prison.

Stefanou blamed systemic dysfunction in the prison service and questioned why three other wardens who had been investigated were not prosecuted.

He added that two wardens found to be premeditated accomplices had received three-year prison sentences, while his clients – convicted for neglect of duty – faced manslaughter charges, creating “a sense of inequality.”

He argued that any sentence should not exceed the penalties given to the accomplices, with a maximum of four years in prison.

Defence lawyer for the third warden, Mouzourou, urged the court to pass a suspended sentence, if any. She added that her client had suffered enough during his detention and that the court could not ignore his 31 years of service.

Bandur’s lawyer, Katia Pieroudi, said her client was a father of a minor and his mother was in bad health.

The lawyer for Reza, identified as Economou, called for concurrent sentences and noted that his client was due for release soon.

The court will reconvene at 9am on September 10 to deliver its sentences. The three prison wardens will remain in custody until then.