Acting Paphos mayor hopes for ‘calm to return’

Acting Paphos mayor Angelos Onisiforou on Thursday said he hopes for “calm to return” to the town after elected mayor Phedonas Phedonos was suspended from his duties, facing allegations of domestic abuse and rape.

Speaking outside the town hall, he said that the municipality’s priority going forward is “institutional stability”.

“Our concern is to let the authorities do their job as they know how. We hope the truth will come out quickly so that calm can return to our town,” he said, before adding that “I am truly sorry for what has happened and what has come to light”.

He was asked about concerns that allegations made against Phedonos were not investigated closer to the time of the alleged offences, but refused to be drawn into commenting, saying, “it is not my job to analyse police work”.

“The courts will judge. Perhaps there were some omissions. I now hope that justice will be served and the truth will shine,” he said, before adding that the municipality’s operations will go on.

“The municipality will not stop working. We are continuing normally, without any problems,” he said, with the council’s agenda to continue from next week, before adding that “if necessary, we will hold more meetings, so nothing remains pending”.

He also said he has not spoken to Phedonos since taking on mayoral duties, but did note that “if necessary, we will communicate”, before once again expressing his hope that for normality to be restored at the Paphos town hall.

“I hope this is the last time the Paphos town hall goes through something like this … I want to send a message of unity. Together with the council and with our partners, we will work for the good of the town and its people. We are here to serve, not to cause trouble,” he said.

The Paphos town hall had remained under police guard throughout Wednesday night, with Phedonos having visited the building on Wednesday evening to collect his personal belongings.

Phedonos’ suspension, alongside that of Lekoniko mayor-in-exile Pieris Gypsiotis, had been announced by the interior ministry earlier on Wednesday, with both men now set to receive a third of their salaries while suspended from their duties.

Allegations of rape against Phedonos resurfaced earlier in the week, when Paphos-based land developer Theodoros Aristodemou, of Aristo Developers, accused him of committing the crime around ten years ago, before giving a statement to the police.

The domestic abuse allegations, meanwhile, surfaced after social media personality Ioanna Photiou, better known by her alias Annie Alexui, claimed to hold documents from the related to admissions of Phedonos’ wife Louiza Andreou to the Nicosia general hospital in 2017, which stated that she had been “beaten” by Phedonos.

At the same time, newspaper Phileleftheros stated that it had seen three “electronic entries” regarding hospital visits made by Andreou.

Andreou has vehemently denied all accusations made against her husband, writing in a post on social media that “my family is being subjected to a coordinated attack”.

“Everyone who really knows me, in my workplace, in our extended family, our friends, know that I am not a victim and that I have no fear. I have lived harmoniously with my husband for 20 years. I assure you that he is a wonderful man, decent and honest, and I am truly proud of him and the battles he is fighting,” she wrote.

Aristodemou has had various run-ins with Phedonos and the Paphos municipality in recent years, having been referred for trial in 2014 alongside his wife and two associates over alleged fraudulent demarcation of 177 plots of land within municipal boundaries.

It had been alleged at the time that thousands of square metres of land which had originally been designated as green space were reassigned to a development company, but the four were cleared by the Paphos criminal court the following year.

An appeal was filed against the acquittal, but the verdict was upheld by the supreme court in 2019, which found that while the paperwork contained irregularities, there had been “no deliberate attempt to secure planning permission under false pretences” on the part of Aristodemou, his wife, or his associates.