Legal Service won’t contest verdict in Nicolaou case

The Legal Service has no intention to challenge the court verdict on Thanasis Nicolaou that ruled he was strangled, it emerged on Thursday.

Sources from the service said they were in contact with the president and had sent a letter outlining their views.

In a press briefing, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said all possible support would be offered to the criminal investigators appointed to examine Nicolaou’s killing.

Earlier this week, cabinet appointed retired Greek police lieutenant Lambros Pappas and lawyer Thanasis Athanasiou to explore the coverup behind Nicolaou’s killing and identify the culprits.

The 19 years that have elapsed since his death are expected to make evidence collection difficult, however the family has expressed hope that the truth can finally shine almost two decades later.

“We hope this will be the last effort to yield answers on who is to blame and made us suffer all these years,” Nicolaou’s mother Andriana said earlier in the day.

“The body of our child spoke for itself when it was found at the scene.

“The tragic thing is they rushed to carry out the funeral and bury the truth in the ground less than 24 hours [after he was found].”

Letymbiotis said efforts have already begun for the investigators to get to work.

“What interests us is for the truth to shine. This drama that for 19 years has made Thanasis’ family suffer should have a good enough ending to allow his soul to rest in peace.

“We have to see what should have happened but did not and shed light on the case of those guilty of this crime.”

The third inquiry into Nicolaou’s death last week found he was killed by strangulation, rather than suicide.

The decision has been 19 years in the making for his family, who fought to prove Nicolaou did not take his own life.

Thanasis Nicolaou was found dead under Alassa bridge in September 2005. He was 26. Forensic pathologist Panicos Stavrianos ruled it was a suicide, however the family has long argued it was a murder coverup.

Stavrianos has reportedly expressed his intention to file an application with the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, requesting the coroner’s report be quashed.