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The grave of former Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos - Source: Reuters
Vandals stole the corpse of former Cypriot President Tassos
Papadopoulos on Friday, leaving the grave of the politician who
died a year ago empty.
Police said they had questioned three people in connection with
the macabre theft but had made no arrests. There was no claim of
responsibility, no sign of the corpse and the vandals' motives were
unclear.
The grave robbers were thought to have worked under torrential
rain overnight and the desecration was discovered the day before
the anniversary of his death in 2008.
Papadopoulos, 74 when he died, was revered by many Greek Cypriots
for rejecting a United Nations reunification blueprint in 2004. The
island was divided in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief
Greek inspired coup.
A former bodyguard who visited the tomb found piles of earth by the
graveside and an empty casket.
"I am appealing to the public to remain calm in the light of this
provocation. I cannot describe this act any other way," Cypriot
President Demetris Christofias said from Brussels, where he was
attending a European Union summit.
"This is a sacrilege," he told reporters. "It is an immoral and
condemnable act which is a blight to our culture and respect for
our dead."
The grave was thought to have been emptied overnight with the
vandals shifting a 250 kg slab of marble covering the tomb before
digging into the grave.
The perpetrators left a Greek Orthodox icon placed in the casket
by relatives when Papadopoulos was buried. There was also a spray
of white chalky substance over a black granite tombstone, partly
obliterating the inscription of Papadopoulos's name.
The island's state broadcaster said those responsible used
asbestos or gypsum to cover their tracks.
Papadopoulos was president of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008, losing his
bid at re-election to Christofias, a former coalition partner in
his centre-left government and considered a moderate.
Christofias has relaunched reunification talks with the Cypriot
community.
Papadopoulos's family said they would go ahead as planned with a
religious service commemorating him on Saturday.
"This sacrilege, apart from the sadness and anger it has caused,
cannot in any way bury the politics and the legacy which Tassos
Papadopoulos left behind," they said in a statement.
"Wherever he is now, his voice will continue to be heard during
these difficult times for our national cause."
