President, Nikos Christodoulides, decided to dismiss on Sunday Chief and Deputy Chief of Police, Stylianos Papatheodorou and Demetris Demetriou, respectively, and to appoint Themistos Arnaoutis as new Chief and Panikos Stavrou as new Deputy Chief.

The move comes after 42-year-old Doros Theofanous, who is serving a life sentence, escaped from lawful custody last Thursday in Paphos. He was located on Sunday afternoon on the coastal front of Limassol after a coordinated operation involving various police departments.

Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a post on platform X, that President Christodoulides, who arrived in Cyprus on Sunday evening from New York where he attended the UN General Assembly, exercising the powers granted to him by the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, decided to dismiss the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Cyprus Police and instructed the Minister of Justice and Public Order to take the necessary actions to terminate the appointment of Charis Philippides, from
the post of Acting Director of the Central Prisons.

Letymbiotis added that President Christodoulides appointed Themistos Arnaoutis as Chief of Police and Panikos Stavrou as Deputy Chief of Police. At the same time, in coordination with the relevant Minister, the Minister of Justice and Public Order will proceed with a recommendation to the Public Service Commission for the appointment of Constantinos Constantinides as Acting Director of the Central Prisons.

Theofanous is appearing on Monday before Paphos District Court for a remand order.

Source: Cyprus News Agency