The legal service have rejected allegations that police-chief Themistos Arnaoutis and other police officers avoided prosecution in the Stylianou case for reasons of “public interest”, insisting the decision was based solely on insufficient evidence to establish criminal offences.

In a public statement issued on Friday, the legal service described claims as “baseless, incorrect and unfounded”, following revelations in court that independent criminal investigators had recommended prosecutions against 15 police officers, including Arnaoutis, over alleged failures in the handling of domestic violence complaints before the suicide of 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou.

The statement said members of the police and social services “were not prosecuted because the legal officers who studied and evaluated the findings considered, with full justification based on case law, that there is insufficient evidence to establish offences against these persons.”

The legal service also sought to directly address claims that prosecutions had been blocked on discretionary grounds, stressing that the issue of public interest “was not even raised for evaluation.”

“Procedurally, in order for the issue of not prosecuting for reasons of public interest to be examined, the establishment of the commission of an offence must first be satisfied,” the statement said.

“In the present case, the first stage was not satisfied.”

The intervention followed testimony before Nicosia district court that independent investigators Andreas Andreou and Modestos Poyiadjis had submitted recommendations in December 2020 for criminal prosecutions against multiple officers connected to the handling of complaints made by Stylianos’ mother between 2007 and 2013.

Those complaints included allegations of domestic violence, threats and assaults involving Stylianos’ father.

Court testimony heard earlier this week alleged that many complaints were recorded by police but subsequently closed without full investigation, despite domestic violence procedures requiring officers to proceed even where complainants declined to cooperate.

Andreou told the court investigators had “made recommendations” for prosecutions involving 15 officers in total, but the attorney-general’s office proceeded against only one police sergeant.

Among those identified in the findings was Arnaoutis, who served as commander of Pera Chorio police station during part of the period examined by investigators.

According to evidence presented before the court, investigators examined multiple incidents from 2013 in which complaints involving violence or threats were allegedly closed without criminal investigation, completion of domestic violence procedures or notification of welfare authorities.

The legal service said that submission of investigative findings by police or criminal investigators “does not entail a process where the legal service formally validates any recommendations delivered to it.”

Arnaoutis had later chaired the police disciplinary committee between 2020 and 2022 while recommendations concerning his own conduct remained before the legal service.

Lawyer Simos Angelides earlier called on attorney-general George Savvides and deputy attorney general Savvas Angelides to publicly explain why prosecutions were not pursued despite the recommendations of independent investigators.

“We are entitled to immediate information and full justification,” Angelides said earlier this week, describing the matter as one of public accountability.

Court proceedings have also focused on the extent to which police officers complied with standing domestic violence regulations in force at the time, including obligations to launch investigations regardless of whether complainants wished to pursue cases.

Material presented in court showed investigators examined police circulars requiring officers to complete official domestic violence forms, inform welfare authorities and continue investigations even where complaints were withdrawn.

The Legal Service said that with “the case currently under trial before a court” they will not make any further submissions, “respecting the judicial process and the presumption of innocence of the accused”.

Stylianos was found dead at the family farm in September 2019.

Separate criminal proceedings remain ongoing against his father, his mother and multiple welfare officers in connection with the case.