Cyprus: Police launch probe into shooting of Pakistani migrant

A Pakistani national was fatally shot in Cyprus earlier in the month. The half-naked body of the 24-year-old was found in a field outside the capital Nicosia on January 6.

An autopsy confirmed later that there was a bullet wound found on the man’s back matching standard police issue weapons in Cyprus, but this contradicted an earlier initial forensic analysis, which had ruled out any criminal circumstances but identified the wound as caused by a small rock.

This resulted in the incident not being treated as a criminal case for several days, allowing the location where the body was found to become contaminated.

News outlets in Pakistan meanwhile claimed that state pathologist Nicholas Charalambous, who was responsible for that initial report, was suspended, pending a disciplinary investigation against him.

According to the Greek City Times, ballistic testing has reportedly proved in the meantime that the bullet found inside the Pakistani man was almost certainly fired from a police weapon.

However, there have been no arrests in the case to date.

Days of silence from police

Several days after the initial reports, police disclosed that an earlier incident had taken place during which officers had fired shots at individuals while trying to intercept and arrest suspects. 

But that standoff had happened in a different location from where the body was found later; according to unverified media reports, the shooting incident had taken place about 30 kilometers away from where the body was later discovered.

Police later added, however, that the death of the Pakistani individual could potentially be connected to that event.

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Theory of anti-smuggling operation gone wrong

According to the local news platform Phileleftheros, there were at least three police officers questioned over the shooting.

Phileleftheros also reported that the police officers had recounted that they had fired shots at the tires of several vehicles, which authorities were pursuing in connection with an investigation into migrant smuggling into the Republic of Cyprus from the Turkish-occupied north of the island.

According to the police, some individuals from the vehicles managed to escape into the UN buffer zone between the two territories. 

The police also disclosed that three officers had sustained injuries during the operation and had to be taken to hospital after one of the vehicles struck a police car before escaping the scene, though it is unclear whether the three injured policemen were the same as the ones who were reportedly being questioned in the case.

Cyprus’ Attorney General George L. Savvides has responded to the latest developments by ramping up pressure to uncover the chain of events that led to the death of the young man from Pakistan, appointing an independent “criminal investigator in relation to the circumstances of the death of a young man from Pakistan.”

“Senior Counsel of the Republic, Mr. Ninos Kekkos, will lead the investigations being conducted by the police,” he announced earlier this week.

According to local media reports, the Cypriot health ministry has in the meantime also requested a police report about the incident along the border to review the pathologist Charalambous’ initial findings and examine any potential discrepancies.

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Cyprus in the crosshairs

Pakistan’s ambassador to Cyprus has meanwhile contacted Cypriot officials over the matter, and is reportedly expecting an update to be issued soon.

The event and the perceived lack of transparency surrounding the situation has already resulted in negative press for the island nation, with the Cyprus Mail saying that there are “fears of (a) major cover-up in the Pakistani man’s death.”

The incident has also renewed the debate on police methods used in Cyprus while tackling irregular migration as well as overall attitudes towards migrants in the country.

In April 2024, a young Bangladeshi worker jumped to his death in the city of Limassol, reportedly to evade a migrant raid by the authorities.

In the last two years, there have been several protests and physical attacks against migrants across Cyprus, as the EU member is increasingly feeling overstretched at the numbers of people trying to reach its shores.

Cyprus has the greatest number of migrants per capita across the EU bloc. Many migrants travel first to the Turkish Cypriot north in order to cross the land border into the Republic of Cyprus secretly and lodge asylum claims there.

Despite a moratorium on accepting certain new applications, the Cypriot government continues to have to deal with irregular arrivals.

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