§ Mr. Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the treatment of Mr. Christoforou while in custody; and what answer has been given to the memorandum on the subject delivered to the Governor by the Bar Council of Cyprus on 2nd January.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 5th March, 1957; Vol. 566, c. 42], supplied the following information:
I have been in communication with the Governor about allegations made that Mr. Christoforou was ill-treated by police officers whilst in custody in October last. I am informed that these allegations have been fully investigated in the following manner.
A private prosecution was started against two members of the Cyprus Police Force who were accused of having caused grievous harm to Mr. Christoforou and of unlawfully wounding him on 3rd October, 1956, whilst he was in custody. These charges were heard in the Special Court, Nicosia, by Judge Ellison who refused to commit the accused for trial on the basis of the evidence called by the Prosecution.
20WIn reply to the second part of the Question, I assume that the hon. Member is referring to a memorandum handed informally by Mr. Benenson to the Attorney-General of Cyprus on 2nd January, 1957. This document is headed "Memorandum of Evidence prepared by the Bar of Cyprus" and is unsigned. In this connection, I am informed by the Governor that the chairman of the Bar Council of Cyprus has made it clear that this memorandum did not in fact emanate from the Council.
The Attorney-General of Cyprus carefully examined the allegations in the memorandum and the record of the Special Court proceedings and considered whether fresh proceedings should be instituted against three officers who arrested Mr. Christoforou or against any other person. No further evidence additional to that before the Special Court which tried the case was discovered: and the Attorney-General was therefore unable to institute fresh proceedings.
Nevertheless, in view of the allegations made in this case, the Governor asked the Attorney-General to see Mr. Clerides, who had been Mr. Christoforou's Counsel. Accordingly, Mr. Clerides was invited to attend a meeting with the Attorney-General, the Chief Constable and the Under-Secretary (Internal Security). The matter was then fully discussed and I am placing in the Library a copy of the record of that meeting as agreed with Mr. Clerides.
It will be seen from that record that Mr. Clerides produced no new evidence and said that he did not propose to pursue the matter further. Mr. Clerides was assured that any complaints would be fully investigated and arrangements were agreed with Mr. Clerides which would enable him to put any future complaints direct to the Administrative Secretary for investigation.