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Papado-poulos were found guilty by the criminal court yesterday.
The body was dug up in Kato Deftera cemetery on December 11 2009 in one of the most bizarre cases in the east Mediterranean island’s criminal history.
Indian Sabrjit Singh, Antonis Prokopiou Kitas – already serving life for double murder and rape – and his brother Mamas Kitas were found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime, exhuming a corpse without a court order and trespass.
The offences carry a maximum penalty of 18 months. More serious charges of blackmail and extortion were dropped. The trio was arrested after Papadopoulos’ body was found at another Nicosia graveyard five km from its original resting place.
His body was stolen from inside his coffin one day before a memorial service was due to be held to mark the first anniversary of his death from cancer.
Antonis Prokopiou Kitas is considered to have masterminded the robbery by mobile phone from his cell at Nicosia Central Prison. Mitigation and sentencing will take place on April 18.
During his five-year term in office, Papadopoulos made political enemies and earned a reputation as a hardliner, leading Greek Cypriots in rejecting a UN plan to reunify the island with the Turkish Cypriots in the north. – AFP.