May 10, 2024, is a significant date for the justice system in Cyprus. Not because this was the date when the , about the strangulation of the unfortunate Thanasis Nicolaou in 2005, was delivered, but because it exposed the vast gulf between the institutional and the everyday reality in Cyprus. Corruption in Cyprus has such deep roots, dating back to the Makarios era in the ’60s.
It permeates the executive branch, penetrates the legislative, and taints affiliated and secondary executive levels, while security forces become complicit in the entanglement. These roots of entanglement collectively “paralyse” society, which, in a paranoid fashion, perceives corruption as an almost natural norm. To the extent that the more the corruptor gains, the smarter they are deemed, with those outside the web of collusion longing for their turn to dip their fingers into the sweet pot of corruption.
Thus, they seek someone within the system to usher them through the grand gateway of favouritism, graft, and difference to make their score. Why, then, is the case of the unfortunate Thanasis Nicolaou and his relentless mother, Andriana, considered pivotal for the dispensation of justice? Because, despite some media outlets uncritically propagating the false narrative of “suicide” spun by the power brokers, the time has passed, and the persistence of Adriana, along with her son’s lawyers, has borne fruit. This fruit came in the form of the coroner’s report, which concluded that Thanasi.
