The high-profile “Sandy” case will go before court on Wednesday, with Makarios Drousiotis and Kyriaki Kyriakou due to appear before the Nicosia district court for proceedings to refer the case directly to the Nicosia criminal court.

The hearing, scheduled for 8.30am, will mark the first court appearance of the two defendants in connection with the case, following the completion of the police investigation and the filing of criminal proceedings by the Legal Service.

According to a legal service announcement issued on July 24, attorney-general George Savvides decided to file criminal proceedings against two individuals after examining evidence submitted by police on June 30.

The charge sheet contains a total of 101 counts relating to the alleged offences of forgery, circulating forged documents, publishing false news and harassment.

The case was filed before the Nicosia district court, while the charge sheets were subsequently served on the two defendants by the police headquarters’ criminal investigation department.

Wednesday’s proceedings are expected to deal with the referral of the case to the Nicosia criminal court for trial.

The case has drawn sustained public attention since Drousiotis, then a parliamentary candidate for Volt, published allegations in March claiming judges, politicians and business figures had been involved in corruption, blackmail and the abuse of a minor, allegedly operating under the name of a Rosicrucian Brotherhood. 

The attorney-general has since filed a criminal case against both Drousiotis and Sandy, with each facing 101 counts relating to the alleged preparation of forged documents, publication of false news and harassment.

A joint investigation involving Europol and an FBI technical unit concluded in June that no testimony, forensic evidence or objective material supported the original allegations. 

Forensic analysis of the disputed messages showed irregular timestamps, police said, concluding they were not genuine and had instead been produced using an application capable of generating fabricated conversations. 

Investigators said Sandy had herself admitted to creating the messages and had identified the application used.