Police face criticism in double murder case, KNEWS

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Man charged with double murder in the case of two Russian women, with police criticized on social media for initially missing the burial site and authorities responded that the discovery was made possible following questioning difficult of the suspect late at night.

The bodies of two Russian nationals were exhumed on Sunday in a remote chalet in the Limassol countryside, days after a police search ended on the spot, with police saying only bloodstains had been found In the region.

Authorities believe Mariia Gazibagandova, 33, from Dagestan and Alraeesi Khaiat, 43, from Syria, both Russian nationals living in Larnaca on tourist visas, were shot dead by a 32-year-old man described as a Cypriot national Syrian. origins.

The suspect, who was originally arrested and held for kidnapping, was re-arrested for murder on Sunday, but police have not disclosed a suspected motive in the case.

Police kept the arrest of the suspect under wraps last month until a daily revealed the story, with local media reporting that the Syrian man denied injuring Gazibagandova and Khaiat and named a another man who would know where the two women are.

“What an astonishing statement considering the technical means that exist in 2021 as well as the real evidence that has been found placing the incident in Kato Amiandos”

But after the arrest of a 23-year-old Syrian, who was already wanted for other crimes, police say the second suspect was not involved in the case, citing phone data and other evidence who appeared to incriminate the 32-year-old. old.

Gazibagandova and Khaiat were reported missing last month, according to reports that police were initially told that they had gone to the chalet to meet the main suspect and another unidentified man in exchange for money. It was also later reported that the sum of € 2,500, which according to the 32-year-old man was said to have been accepted to be paid for sex, was in fact money intended to pay for illegal drugs and that the things did not go as planned.

Unconfirmed reports cited sources speculating that a possible motive was linked to the Syrian man’s concerns over the two women who appeared to “mock his origins” or try to cheat him after he returned from a hunting trip.

Police have not publicly commented on the motive, but local media said the suspect’s Greek Cypriot wife previously confirmed to authorities that her husband had a hunting rifle, while reports also said two shell casings were ‘shells had been found near the chalet’s dumpster.

Challenging late-night interrogation by Larnaca detectives

Local media said the prime suspect was being questioned late at night when he broke down and confessed early Sunday at 2 a.m.

While CID Limassol investigated a double murder after taking over the kidnapping case, CID Larnaca conducted a late night interrogation of the suspect.

“Yesterday, while being questioned by CID agents in Larnaca, the 32-year-old man appeared to have confessed to the murder of the two women, as he pointed to a specific location in the courtyard of a friend’s residence where the two bodies were buried, ”a police report said on Sunday.

But police came under heavy criticism on social media for failing to locate the burial site, which was said to have been in the yard about 30 feet from the chalet, which belonged to a friend of the suspect who was also given the keys to carry out the checks. construction work.

The suspect, according to police, said he obtained the help of two men to dig the grave, which was not spotted during several searches on the property of Kato Amiandos. He reportedly told investigators that two people who did not know the deceased women helped dig the grave, after he told them he planned to build a barbecue there.

Police chief Stelios Papatheodorou on Sunday defended law enforcement against delays in the search for the bodies, saying all tools were used in the search “except that if you take a look at the ground, at both at depth and on the surface, you will agree that their discovery was impossible without the author indicating the exact location.

Why did the police abandon the area?

“But why did the police abandon the area? Asked a state radio host on Monday morning.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou said officials enlisted a number of tools, including drones and satellite imagery to search for the two women, attributing the failure possibly to weather conditions and the lack of specialized equipment.

Powerful local lawyer Christos Triantafyllides took to social media to criticize the chief’s remark that “if the suspect did not speak, it would have been impossible to locate the bodies of the two women”.

“What an astonishing statement considering the technical means that exist in 2021 as well as the actual evidence that has been found placing the incident at Kato Amiandos,” Triantafyllides wrote on Twitter.

Another user responded to the comment by saying police were aware from the start but wanted to wait for a confession to facilitate the trial, while others questioned the abilities of officers who had surrounded the area with sniffer dogs .

Andreou rebuffed criticism, saying there was information that had not been shared with the public amid difficult conditions. He also said that specialized equipment could have been imported from foreign countries.

Police first arrived at the scene in late November.

Reports have speculated that police missed the grave after it rained in the area, while the ground at the exact spot was covered in large pebbles according to local media on Sunday.

A yellow warning had gone into effect early Sunday morning for potential severe storms in parts of the island.

Gazibagandova and Khaiat, who traveled to Cyprus on a tourist visa, were staying in Larnaca where another person reported them missing on November 19 after they failed to return from the mountains. The exact dates of their disappearance and death have not yet been established.

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