The Cyprus Appeal Court quashed the conviction and 22‑year prison sentence imposed on Georgios Christodoulou Zavrantonas for possession and possession with intent to supply more than 15 kilogrammes of cocaine, ordering a new trial due to a mistrial. Despite the ruling, the defendant will not be released.
In a unanimous decision by judges D. Kitsiou, M.G. Pikis and M. Drousiotis, the Appeal Court found the first‑instance proceedings invalid, as the case was concluded by a differently constituted Assize Court from the one that had ruled on a substantive preliminary issue, in breach of the principle of the natural judge.
The case concerns offences committed in January 2019. Zavrantonas had been sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment by the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia, while being acquitted at first instance of additional charges relating to conspiracy and drug supply.
A key development had been a defence application to stay the proceedings for abuse of process, alleging that the defendant was arrested under questionable circumstances and transferred to the authorities of the Republic from the occupied areas. The original court composition rejected the application, holding that the matter could be examined only within the main trial.
However, before the hearing began, the court’s composition changed entirely and the trial continued before a new panel, which went on to convict.
The Appeal Court ruled that the initial bench had already “stamped” the case through its interim decision, affecting the course of the proceedings. The subsequent change of composition rendered the process invalid and amounted to a mistrial. The judgment cites established case law that when an Assize Court rules on a matter of essential procedural substance, the same composition must continue until the conclusion of the trial.
On this basis, the Appeal Court set aside the conviction and sentence and ordered a retrial before a newly constituted Assize Court of Nicosia. The appellant will remain in custody pending the retrial.
Source: CNA
