Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Defence lawyer lays in to drug squad for ‘entrapping’ Turkish Cypriot
By George Psyllides


THE defence lawyer in a drugs case before the Nicosia Assizes yesterday unleashed a scathing attack against the drug squad whom he accused of entrapping his client because he was a Turkish Cypriot.

“It is obvious that the Turkish Cypriot fell victim to the Greek actions,” defence lawyer Marios Georgiou said.

Georgiou was delivering his closing arguments in the case of 35-year-old Sener Erbekci, charged with possession of ecstasy and possession with intent to supply.

Erbekci was arrested in February while in a Nicosia parking lot with his brother.

In their car, drug squad officers found two socks containing plastic bags with the tablets inside.

His brother was cleared of any wrongdoing.

“Their purpose was clearly political; the political leadership wanted to create a climate of animosity against Turkish Cypriots.

“They wanted to give the impression that the free areas were flooded with drugs from the occupied areas,” Georgiou said.

He argued that a third person present at the scene was allowed by police to escape and that the drug squad had never bothered to investigate his client’s side of the story.

“I have no respect for the drug squad or the Cyprus police.

“They have repeatedly humiliated the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus internationally,” he added.

Georgiou referred to the notorious Erkan Egmez case in 1995.

Egmez, who had been arrested on suspicion of drugs possession, was abused by the police and eventually released.

He subsequently lodged a lawsuit against the Republic, which paid £10,400 in compensation.

Georgiou said the Egmez case displayed the criminal consciousness of people in the force – “a consciousness only displayed by scumbags”.

“Such people have no position in the state apparatus,” he added.
Earlier in his arguments, Georgiou suggested that there were two points in the case, which conflicted with the constitution.

He said Ecstasy, or MDMA as it was also known, had been categorised a class ‘A’ drug and added on the table of drugs embedded in the legislation by the Cabinet.

“This is a blatant violation of Article 61 of the constitution.”

“The Cabinet is not allowed to legislate,” he said.

Article 61 stipulates that the “legislative power of the Republic shall be exercised by the House of Representatives in all matters except those expressly reserved to the Communal Chambers under this constitution.”

The function of the Communal Chambers was suspended when intercommunal strife broke out in 1963/4.

Georgiou further argued that his client’s arrest was unconstitutional and accused the drug squad of tampering with the evidence.

He said his client had not been informed of his rights on the scene, or even later on.

Georgiou accused the two officers who were first on the scene of lying when they said they were the only ones there until the case investigator arrived together with another officer.

That officer said there were at least five officers on the scene when he arrived with the investigator.

The lawyer also suggested that the pills his client was caught in possession of were fake and that the police had switched them with real Ecstasy between the time of the arrest and the next day when they were taken to the lab for testing.

The state prosecutor said there was no gap in the testimony regarding the handling of the evidence, though her reply to a question asked by the court on the issue was not so convincing.

She said the defendant was feeding the court with fables in order to save himself.

“The fairy-tale with the fake pills can’t be believed; the defendant was intercepted by the police having 889 Ecstasy tablets in his possession and told officers the smartest tale he could come up with,” she said.

The prosecution disputed the testimony given by the defendant’s brother, who had been also arrested and later acquitted for the same case.
“He is completely unreliable; in an attempt not to incriminate himself, he gave the impression that he didn’t know, hear or understand anything, until the minute they were caught by the officers,” the prosecution said.

And in irrelevant questions he tried with the same language used by the defendant to explain what happened, the state prosecutor added.

“The defence cannot claim that all police officers are trying to entrap any Turkish Cypriot they find.

“No testimony was presented to substantiate entrapment; the testimonies of the defendant and his brother were made up to get him off the hook,” she said.

The prosecution also rejected as “completely unacceptable” Georgiou’s allegations concerning the existence of political motives behind the arrest.

The case continues today, with the prosecution arguing on the unconstitutionality issue regarding the classification of the drug.

[MicAtCyp]

The drug bussiness is a dirty bussiness, and no GC or TC who respects himself should get involved. On the other hand everybody knows that the GC and TC drug mafia cooperate perfectly.

[brother]

Amazing how drugs and money has no religon or race.