Former Cyprus president’s stolen corpse found
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DNA tests have today proved that a corpse found in a Nicosia cemetery is that of Cyprus’s former leader Tassos Papadopoulos, whose body was snatched three months ago by tomb raiders in a bizarre crime that still has no apparent motive.
"We have received the DNA test results and the body is that of the late president," police spokesman Michalis Katsounodos confirmed in the Cyprus Mail newspaper this morning.
In a story that shocked the ethnic Greek-controlled part of the island, the thieves managed to move the massive 250kg slab that lay on top of Papadopoulos’s grave and snatch the body on 11 December last year - the eve of the anniversary of the ex-president's death.
Cypriot police called in the help of the UK’s Scotland Yard, the FBI and Interpol to try to find the culprits. Speculation has been rife about the possible reasons for the macabre crime. Initially police said they expected a ransom demand, as the Papadopoulos family are one of the wealthiest on Cyprus, but no such demands were ever reported.
Other theories include a gang-related crime or possible political revenge, as the president made many bitter enemies in his lifetime with his hard-line stance against UN efforts to reunite the divided island.
The body was found at a cemetery in a Nicosia suburb less than 5km away from the former leader's original resting place late yesterday following an anonymous tip-off, Mr Katsounodos said. The police are taking fingerprints and other forensic evidence from a phone box nearby the cemetery, which they believed was used to make the call.
Police say they will return the body for reburial once forensic tests are completed. “This will put an end to the unspeakable agony Papadopoulos’ family is going through,” said Justice Ministry Permanent Secretary Andis Tryfonides.
