Nicosia district court rejected on Friday the motion of former Volunteer Commissioner Yiannakis Yiannaki to carry out a trial within a trial over his ongoing case over his forged degree.
His lawyers used the Supreme Constitutional Court decision dismissing former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides, to argue that the ruling found fault with the way Michaelides had carried out the investigation over Yiannakis’ credentials.
Yiannakis’ legal team are using the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ argument, arguing that the source of the evidence against Yiannaki was tainted, therefore anything gained subsequently is tainted as well.
Judge Nicole Gregoriou rejected the request to carry out a trial within the trial, saying the matter can be evaluated throughout the course of the subsequent hearings.
Yiannaki faces eight charges for forgery and circulating forged documents.
The case came to light in 2021, when Michaelides wrote to the police chief after an investigation found out that the English translation of Yiannakis’ secondary school diploma had been tampered with. For example, for modern Greek, the diploma reads ‘thirteen’ but the number next to it has been changed to 19.
Under the subject ‘English’, it was also written out as ‘Thirteen’ but the number next to it said ‘19’. In both instances, it appears the 3 in the 13 had been crudely changed to a 9.
The next hearing is slated for November 28 at 11am.
