'Sex, drugs and films for adults in prisons', the corruption that is shaking Cyprus: I want videos quickly...

Cyprus is in the middle of an unprecedented scandal in recent days, due to the complaint of the director and deputy director of the Central Prisons to the commander of the Anti-Narcotics Service.

According to the complaint, the senior police officer was in contact with a prisoner, who is serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking, and asked him to find a pink video of the private life of the director or deputy director of the prison.

After the denunciation, an organized attack was launched against the two women, with the clear aim of intimidation, de-conspiracy and turning them into defendants for unrelated matters.

"I want video fast"

The complaint by the prison director Anna Aristotelous and deputy director Athina Dimitriou is directed against the prison commander, Michalis Katsounotou, who, as mentioned, used his personal cell phone and through the electronic platform Telegram, communicated almost daily with the "strong" held in Central Prisons for drug trafficking cases.

The mere fact of communication creates a serious problem for police relations with convicts. According to the complaint, the officer in his messages persistently asked the convict to find through his links any video of the private moments of the director or deputy director of the prisons.

In one of the Telegram messages, the officer allegedly wrote to the convict: "Please note that it is rumored that Anna will soon leave for another position. Send me (the video) as soon as possible because I want to do some things before the girls get out of jail.'

The exchange of messages, according to the denunciation, took place last March and, as the director of prisons herself confirmed, in one of them the officer allegedly wrote to the prisoner: "I just need some videos of her." If you have or find, send it to me and I know what I will do before Anna moves on to another position. Perhaps trying to make sure what exactly he should be looking for, the convict seems to have asked if the video should be about the two women's personal lives. The officer gave the answer that: "We want such a video and nothing else. Try it and we'll talk.'

And the conversation ended with the officer's advice to the prisoner: "Be careful", which means Anna Aristotelous and Athena Dimitriou.

"Salary" to the prison resident

In one of the messages saved on his cell phone, the prisoner informed a relative of his cooperation with the Police officer. He told him that "I will receive 3,000 euros per month" to provide information to the Police in order to discover quantities of drugs.

In another message, through Telegram, the convict writes to the police officer: " If they let me out on bail earlier, I will be better. Order microphones, GPS and the drug dealers when they come to the gas station to wash the car, I'll put them in the car and we go to work on them. They will all join (there) to me ."

In another message contained in the material submitted to the General Prosecutor, the officer writes: "I gave Gjergji money to send to you". George is also supposed to be a police officer. Below is a message from baripoin to a relative, where he says: " Someone will come to bring you €150 and don't say anything about my friends... and George ".

In another text conversation, the convict allegedly informed the officer that a cousin of his, who is also serving a prison sentence, could not come to the Open Prison because he had a criminal case against him for misdemeanor traffic. The officer texts and replies, “I'm going to close your cousin's case because he's going to get a suspended license and a fine. " I brought the file and I will close it. I'll try not to register ."

 He was nailed by other convicts

Information about the senior officer's contacts with the prisoner came to the knowledge of the director of prisons through other convicts, who allegedly knew about the case.

Ms. Aristotelous investigated the information and, according to her complaint, obtained the cell phone illegally possessed by the inmate who spoke with the officer, who also admitted in writing that he had communicated with the Police officer.

Other information referring to the same officer had been forwarded to the Directorate of Prisons earlier and related to allegations of his attempts to stigmatize Ms Aristotelous on a professional level. The efforts were aimed at reversing the image that was created for the prisons of Cyprus, since due to the implemented programs they have become a model for other countries.

Recently, a team from the Netflix television platform was in the Central Prisons of Cyprus for a documentary about "the best prisons in the world". This fact seems to have worried some people. According to the complaint, the officer allegedly asked the inmate to produce a video showing an ugly image of prisons, noting that the video should appear to have been taken by inmates. The intention was to create the impression from the outside that the prisons are out of control and a good image has been established.