Thieves steal former Cypriot president's body

Saturday, December 12, 2009

NICOSIA: Thieves opened the grave of former Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos during the night and stole his corpse in a crime that shocked the Mediterranean island on Friday.

State television interrupted its normal programming through the morning to bring live reports and reaction to the desecration.

The official Cyprus News Agency said the open grave had been discovered by a member of Papadopoulos’s guard, who lights a vigil candle in the cemetery in Deftera, just outside the capital, every morning.

On hearing the news, Papadopoulos’s family went to the cemetery, which has been cordoned off by police.

Police chief Michalis Papageorgiou, assistant police chief Andreas Iatropoulos and Nicosia police director Kypros Michaelides were all at the grave to oversee the investigation.

The crime came the day before a memorial service was held to mark the first anniversary of Papadopoulos’s death.

Sources cited by CNA said the service at the church of Saint Nicholas in Deftera was still expected to go ahead.

The current leader of Papadopoulos’s center-right DIKO party, Marios Garoyan, condemned what he called a “heinous crime.”