MPs urge attorney-general to reopen Thanasis case

The House human rights committee on Monday held a charged session that lasted more than three hours, focusing on the death of 26-year-old national guardsman Thanasis Nicolaou, following the recent announcement that the attorney-general will not press charges.

Nicolaou was found dead under a bridge in Alassa, Limassol, in September 2005 during his military service. Authorities at the time ruled his death a suicide, claiming he had jumped. His family, however, consistently rejected this version, alleging that Thanasis had been bullied during his army service and was murdered.

For over 15 years, the family fought for the case to be reopened. Thanasis Nicolaou’s body was exhumed in 2020. In 2021, new forensic findings confirmed he was strangled. In 2024, a coroner ruled his death a murder. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling in February 2025.

During Monday’s session, lawmakers were visibly shaken as criminal investigator Athanasis Athanasiou presented the findings of a report he compiled with former deputy police chief Lambros Papas. Speaking for nearly an hour, Athanasiou laid out a picture of neglect, failure and possible cover-up.

He said there was evidence of dereliction of duty by at least four senior police officers and two army officials. He described how forensic pathologist Panicos Stavrianos concluded the death was a suicide within just ten minutes of arriving at the scene. That conclusion, he said, was accepted without question by four high-ranking police officers who were also present.

Athanasiou explained that key injuries on Thanasis’ body went unnoticed. Blood found on the autopsy table was dismissed as belonging to a previous case, even though no other autopsies had taken place that day. No DNA samples were taken from the soldier’s car, which was returned to the family just four days later, untouched.

One of the most disturbing elements of the session was the investigator’s account of how Thanasis’s mother discovered blood stains three metres away from where his body had been found. She reported it to the police, but no officers came to collect it. She was forced to gather the blood herself.

Months later, following persistent pressure, the blood sample was sent to the Cyprus institute of neurology and genetics, which confirmed it belonged to her son. At one point, Athanasiou revealed, a police officer told the mother directly, “come to terms with it, your son committed suicide.”

The investigation also highlighted a series of alarming failures in the autopsy process. The pathologist did not clip the fingernails of the deceased, later telling investigators, “I looked at them and there was nothing.” There was also confusion over how Thanasis’ wristwatch, which he wore on his left hand, ended up behind his back.

The pathologist gave three different versions, at one point suggesting it might have come off in his pocket before the fall, or that he might have grabbed his own wrist mid-air.

Military procedures were also called into question. Police officers only began taking witness statements from army personnel 11 days after the body was found. Athanasiou said a senior army officer warned his men in advance, saying, “if the police come, tell them nothing happened.”

Witnesses also claimed that Thanasis had made repeated complaints to an army officer about being bullied, often while in tears. He was allegedly told to be patient as his six-month service was nearly over.

A representative from the law office, Elli Papagapiou, addressed the committee and defended the attorney-general’s decision not to prosecute the pathologist. She said there was no conclusive evidence proving intentional neglect, and therefore no legal basis to bring charges. While she acknowledged that criminal proceedings could still move forward against certain individuals for negligence, she stressed that no suspects had been identified for the murder itself. 

“We must ensure there are the necessary legal elements for a trial,” she said. 

“We must not wrongfully accuse people.”

At the end of the session, Thanasis’ mother, Andriana Nicolaou, addressed the MPs. 

“I gave this country a healthy, educated child full of dreams. They returned him to me dead,” she said. 

“For 20 years they murdered my son every day. This crime concerns everyone. I am just a mother, but it could have been any mother. They allowed an obvious crime to be treated as a small mistake. And still today, some officials refuse to acknowledge the true cause of death or take responsibility.”

MPs closed the meeting by urging the attorney-general to re-examine the case and called on the government to assume its responsibilities. Several lawmakers demanded that the state pay the family’s legal fees so they could proceed with private criminal prosecutions. Even now, they said, the state has a duty to correct its failure.

Investigator Athanasiou left no room for doubt. 

“No one can question that this was murder,” he said. 

“That the killers were not found is the responsibility of the state. Let the courts now be the final judge.”