New prisons head takes the reins

The new acting prisons director Charis Philippides will have a meeting with the House legal committee on Wednesday, following the official announcement he will be taking on his duties.

The committee members will visit the Nicosia central prisons on Wednesday, where they will meet Philippides.

Philippides was appointed to the position following the resignation of Ioannis Kapnoullas at the start of February, citing personal reasons.

Kapnoullas had been set to serve in the position until June 2026.

Kapnoullas had been serving as acting prison director since January 2023, in a move which had drawn criticism from Akel, as it involved his predecessor Anna Aristotelous being appointed as humanitarian affairs commissioner.

Aristotelous had faced a turbulent end to her tenure as prison director after alleging that a high-ranking police officer had colluded with an inmate to attempt to obtain damaging video footage of her.

She had described the incident as a “huge corruption scandal” and “unprecedented by Cypriot standards”.

In their statement on Tuesday, the prisons said Philippides was born in Larnaca in 1973, and he is a graduate of the US’ FBI academy.

He first studied in the UK, focusing on prisons and correctional facilities.

Philippides has also been a member of the board for Europol and Interpol, representing Cyprus.