Police officers assigned to former House presidents Marios Garoyian, Demetris Syllouris and Yiannakis Omirou, as well as former first ladies Androulla Vassiliou and Elsi Christofia, are being withdrawn following a review by the authorities.
According to letters recently sent by Justice Minister Costas Fytrakis, the police escorts provided to the five former officials will be terminated after a risk assessment concluded that there was no justification for maintaining their security details.
Officers reassigned from Wednesday
The three former House presidents each had two police officers assigned to them, while Vassiliou and Christofia each had one officer acting as driver and escort.
The eight officers have received transfer orders and will take up new duties from Wednesday.
Anastasiades security detail to be reduced
Under the same review process, former president Nicos Anastasiades will see his police protection reduced from 12 officers to six from January.
The reduction will coincide with the installation of an electronic surveillance system at his residence. Six officers will remain assigned to his security detail.
The Justice Ministry said decisions on whether security escorts are maintained, reduced or withdrawn are based exclusively on risk assessments and not on the public office previously held by an individual.
What about Hartsiotis' escort?
The Justice Minister has also received the police assessment regarding security details assigned to ministers, deputy ministers and commissioners.
Presidency Commissioner Marios Hartsiotis, who previously served as justice minister, is currently the only commissioner with a police escort. Two officers, a chief inspector and a police constable, were assigned to him on 24 September 2026 to act as driver and security escort.
According to the report, Hartsiotis had for months been using police officers attached to the Presidential Palace as drivers and had also been using a state limousine for personal journeys.
Following complaints to the Audit Office and a written request for explanations from the Auditor General, Hartsiotis was required to comply with legislation governing the use of official vehicles and to restrict use of the state limousine to official duties.
However, rather than ending the practice of assigning police officers to him, the Presidency effectively formalised the arrangement, with police leadership assigning two officers to perform driving and escort duties on a shift basis.
The report argues that if Hartsiotis' case was assessed using the same criteria applied to all public officials and no security risk has been identified, then the transfers of the two officers assigned to him should also be revoked.
