Stolen corpse of ex-Cypriot president recovered

THE corpse of former Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos was found reburied in another grave three months after it was dug up and stolen.

The country’s justice minister said it had been held for ransom, but Papadopoulos’s family said that they had never received a demand for money.

The right-wing Greek Cypriot hardliner’s body was stolen in December during slow-moving reunification talks with Turkish Cypriot leaders. A lack of clear motive and few clues led to speculation that it could have been politically motivated, but authorities suggested early on that ransom was a more likely scenario.

The robbers removed a heavy marble plaque from on top of Papadopoulos’s grave on the southern outskirts of the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, then dug down to the coffin and removed the body on December 11, a day before the first anniversary of his death.

The robbers left few clues. Lime was strewn over the grave in what investigators believe was an attempt to erase any tracks.

Investigators sought the help of the FBI and Interpol as well as Greek and Israeli law enforcement authorities.

But there was little progress in the investigation until yesterday when police found the body in another cemetery after being alerted by his family, who had received a telephone tip.

A family spokesman said a man speaking broken Greek had called with information about the corpse and instructed them to contact police.

DNA testing confirmed it was Papadopoulos’s body.

The former president’s body was found inside another grave and covered with a thin layer of soil.

Justice Minister Loucas Louca said Papadopoulos’s family had received a demand for ransom, but h e said that no money had been paid.

“The conclusion is ransom was behind the theft and there was no political motive,” he said.

But two spokesmen for the family said the family received no such demand.

Papadopoulos was a central figure in Cypriot politics for decades, with acareer spanning most of the island’s turbulent history since it gained independence from Britain in 1960. President from 2003 to 2008, he was considered by many right-wing Greek Cypriots to be a champion of resistance against peace accords weighted against them.

A British-trained lawyer, Papadopoulos was aguerrilla leader for the Greek Cypriot group EOKA, which waged an anti-colonial campaign. Later, at age 26, he was the youngest cabinet minister in the island’s first post-independence government.

He ushered a divided Cyprus into the European Union in May 2004.

The leader was defeated in a February 2008 presidential poll by Dimitris Christofias, former head of the AKEL party.

He died of lung cancer in 2008 at 74.