Ex-prison chief’s lawyer reiterates demand for independent investigator

Lawyer Chris Triantafyllides, defending former central prison director Anna Aristotelous in her ongoing trial, on Friday requested the appointment of an independent investigator to look into alleged offenses committed against his client.

“I reiterate the request that you appoint an independent criminal investigator/criminal investigators to investigate all of the above in combination with possible criminal offenses committed against my client in question by [assistant police chief] Michael Katsounotos mainly, and Maria Shaeli and Haris Herodotou,” Triantafyllides said.

He said that the alleged offences significantly impacted his client’s rights and her ability to defend herself, and stressed that the investigations could not be carried out by the police as this would risk them being biased.

Triantafyllides referred to statements by established legal expert Achilleas Emilianides, as well as videos of social media personality Ioanna Photiou, known as ‘Annie Alexui’, who he said held compromising material on people including Katsounotos.

“[The justice system] is under unbearable pressure of objective questioning,” he emphasised.

He called on attorney-general George Savvides to “preserve this stronghold” and demanded for the three officials to be placed on leave during the investigation.

Triantafyllides had previously urged that an independent officer be appointed to conduct the examinations, filing two similar requests to Savvides in October 2025 and warning of “serious concerns about fairness” if the police were to continue leading the investigations.

This was after a previous letter in which he had criticised the Law Office’s decision to maintain the police’s oversight of the investigation.

In one of the letters sent to the attorney-general, the lawyer included statements from two former inmates who alleged offences by senior officials, including Katsounotos, Shaeli and Herodotou.

He had argued that the probe must start from scratch, without any officers named in the witness statements being involved.

In April 2025, a police search of the home of a prison warden revealed a large volume of official documents, some marked “confidential.”

Subsequent to an exhaustive investigation, law enforcement officials apprehended five individuals, four prison guards and a police cadet, on suspicion of misconduct relating to the removal of said documentation.

Police believe that the majority of the documents were removed between November and December 2022. Both Aristotelous and former deputy director Athina Demetriou have since given testimony.

In November 2025, authorities officially registered a case against Aristotelous.

The proceedings of the prison documents trial will continue on February 9.