The supreme constitutional court on Friday rejected dismissed judge Doria Varoshiotou’s request that three of its judges be recused from her appeal against her dismissal from the judiciary.

Varoshiotou’s lawyer Achilleas Demetriades had last month requested that presiding judge Antonis Liatsos and judges Tefkros Economou and Nicholas Santis be recused from the appeal, given that they had been involved in the decision to appoint her to the position of probationary judge.

She is appealing against the supreme judicial council’s decision to not offer her a permanent position within the judiciary following the conclusion of a two-year probationary period.

She was the only one of 11 judges under probation whose position was discontinued, with seven being offered permanent appointments and three being given further probation.

Varoshiotou had last year ruled that conscript Thanasis Nicolaou, who died in 2005, had been strangled to death,19 years after his death had been ruled a suicide and following a long campaign to have that ruling overturned by his mother Andriana Nicolaou.

That ruling prompted a wave of appeals from former state pathologist Panicos Stavrianos.

While those appeals were unsuccessful, the Supreme Court found in February that Varoshiotou had made a “legal error” in not allowing Stavrianos to testify during the case.

Despite this, the Supreme Court also found that it would “not serve any purpose” to annul Varoshiotou’s decision “for reasons of public interest and justice”.

More to follow…