‘At the end of the day you choose the lesser evil’ says government

A man serving a 35-year prison sentence for multiple attempted murders and rape has received a presidential pardon and suspension of his sentence, and has been released after serving just six years in custody, it was reported on Friday.

Charalambos Chrysanthou, widely known as Hamburger, had been sentenced by both the Larnaca and Famagusta permanent criminal courts in July 2020 after admitting to 24 charges arising from two separate attempted murder cases in Larnaca and Ayia Napa.

His early release is part of the witness protection programme operated by the drugs squad (Ykan), under which convicted offenders may receive sentence reductions or suspensions in exchange for providing evidence against co-defendants in criminal proceedings.

Chrysanthou was previously sentenced for offences that included conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, illegal possession and transportation of firearms as well as drug offences.

He had also been sentenced two months earlier to five years imprisonment for the rape and assault of a woman in Paphos.

The pardon was granted with the consent of attorney-general George Savvides and his deputy Savvas Angelides.

Speaking to Alpha on Friday, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou explained that Chrysanthou’s pardon was well established by legal precedence.

“It is a practice that is common not only in Cyprus, but internationally as well,” he said. “At the end of the day you choose the lesser evil.”

The legal service has likewise defended the decision, stressing that the presidential pardon granted to Chrysanthou does not amount to an acquittal or the erasure of his convictions.

The service said Chrysanthou joined the witness protection programme following his conviction, in order to provide testimony in serious criminal cases regarding organised syndicates he had knowledge of.

Chrysanthou had cooperated with invesigators for the prosecution of Greek national and lifer, Demetris Mamalikopoulos, whom he had conspired with in both attempted murder cases.

Mamalikopoulos is at present serving five life sentences for murdering four people on June 23, 2012, in Ayia Napa, in an attempt to murder businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis.

Kalopsidiotis himself was later slain along with four other individuals on June 23, 2016 at the Stone Garden restaurant in Ayia Napa as a result of a reported vendetta with a rival gang. Two police officers who were dining with him were among the dead.

The legal service explained that Chrysanthou’s pardon was taken within the president’s constitutional powers and that such decisions take into account factors including cooperation with authorities as well as the protection of witnesses and their families.

As part of the conditions attached to the suspension of his sentence, Chrysanthou was required to leave Cyprus by July 1 and is prohibited from returning until 2040.

Without the suspension, his prison term would have expired in 2055.

The legal service assured that any breach of the pardon conditions would automatically reactivate the original prison sentence.

One case concerned the attempted murder of Constantinos Charalambous, known as ‘Mavros’, in Larnaca on November 27, 2019.

The second related to a shooting at the Liquid Café Bar on Krio Nero Avenue in Ayia Napa on February 16, 2020, in which Costas Kritikos, a local businessman and former chairman of Ayia Napa FC, was allegedly targeted while four patrons were injured.

Kiritikos himself had left the premises but minutes before Charalambous indiscriminately fired some 25 bullets into the bar.

In its sentencing, the criminal court described the offences as displaying “a devastating and inconceivably provocative disrespect for human life”.

The judge said the absence of fatalities was “solely due to the good fortune of the victims”.

Referring to the Ayia Napa shooting, the court said the defendant acted “ruthlessly”, firing “indiscriminately at people who were sitting carefree in the cafeteria”, despite realising that his intended target was not present.

In relation to the Larnaca attack, the court found he had acted “with persistence, dedication and brutality”, repeatedly shooting at the victim under conditions of surprise.

The sentencing judgement also referred to Chrysanthou’s previous convictions.

In May 2020, the Paphos criminal court sentenced him to concurrent prison terms of five and two years for rape and assault causing grievous bodily harm.

The judgement stated he physically assaulted the complainant before forcing her to have sexual intercourse against her will while threatening her and telling her, “You know who I am, I did 17 years in prison”.

The court also recorded an earlier conviction in Greece, where the Thessaloniki appeals court imposed a ten-year prison sentence and a €100,000 fine in 2015 for a drugs offence before his release in 2016.