Court to rule on Yiannaki pre-trial motion in two weeks

The court hearing the case of former Volunteer Commissioner Yiannakis Yiannaki said Thursday it will decide in two weeks’ time on the defence’s motion for a trial within a trial.

Defence attorneys for Yiannaki have raised a number of pre-trial objections. The latest one, seeking to have the case dismissed, is based on the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ argument. Namely that the source of the evidence against Yiannaki was tainted, therefore anything gained subsequently is tainted as well.

Yiannaki faces charges of forgery and circulating fraudulent documents. He is accused of having forged his high school diploma and university degree from the United States.

The matter was revealed in May 2021 by Odysseas Michaelides, the auditor-general at the time. The case itself was filed in court a year later after police investigations.

Yiannaki’s lawyers now argue two points. Firstly, that because the former auditor-general was recently found unfit for the job, his involvement casts doubt on his findings relating to this case. Secondly, that information leading to the police investigation into Yiannaki had been provided anonymously and irregularly, therefore tainting the process which nonetheless led to Yiannaki’s questioning and arrest.

In court, the public prosecutor rejected these arguments as frivolous, noting that the police had done everything by the book. She also pointed out that the involvement of the former auditor-general was not germane.

Judge Nicole Gregoriou agreed to consider the defence’s motion for a trial within a trial, saying she would decide on November 15. But she also noted that the proceedings needed to be “sped up”.

Nicosia district court is hearing the case.

Back in July, the defence had tried to get the case dismissed on the grounds that remarks in the public sphere about Yiannaki rendered the trial unfair. The court rejected the motion.