Lawyer Nicos Clerides has publicly confirmed that he received threats in connection with the Sandy case and that those threats stopped after his brother, former Attorney General Costas Clerides, intervened with a third party. The confirmation, made in an appearance on The LegalMatters Podcast hosted by Christoforos Christofi, adds new weight to allegations published by journalist Makarios Drousiotis and raises fresh questions about the former attorney general's role in one of Cyprus' most closely watched cases.
In his testimony to police, which Drousiotis published in full on his personal website, the journalist alleges that Costas Clerides was not merely aware of contentious messages linked to the Sandy case but was actively involved, after his brother Nicos informed him he was receiving death threats following meetings with the woman known as Sandy. Nicos Clerides, while expressing disagreement with Drousiotis's decision to make the messages public, confirmed both the threats and his brother's intervention. He said Costas Clerides contacted a third party, after which the threats stopped immediately. Nicos Clerides also stated that he knows the identity of the person behind the threats but declined to name him.
Drousiotis, in his testimony, names that person as Michalakis Christodoulou, who at the relevant time was a judge of the Supreme Court of Cyprus.
The alleged exchange
According to Drousiotis's account, an unknown individual using the alias "User 6" opened a conversation with Nicos Clerides via Viber. The exchange, which Drousiotis includes in his testimony and which Politis to the Point reproduces below without endorsing, began with the unknown person requesting a private conversation. After Nicos Clerides did not initially respond, the messages grew more ominous. "If we reveal ourselves, one of the two of us will not survive. And I always survive," User 6 wrote. The conversation continued, with User 6 stating: "I have a small suspicion, an instinct, that you are somehow responsible for something that has been tormenting me lately." He later added: "I gave a billion for her sake, I would give three more. I will find out who is the cause of what tore my heart out. And then death will be the release." Nicos Clerides replied that he had no involvement in any harm done to anyone and offered to make amends if he had wronged anyone unknowingly.
Drousiotis alleges that Nicos Clerides recognised User 6 as Christodoulou and took the threat seriously. He then informed his brother Costas, who, Drousiotis claims, sent a message to Christodoulou reading: "My brother, following information from certain colleagues, became aware of certain claims made by a girl that concerned you, but he was interested in her situation purely for humanitarian reasons. He assures me that he had no knowledge of the girl's escape, nor will he have any further involvement in this matter."
Nicos Clerides confirmed on the podcast that he had sent an SMS to the person threatening him, and that his brother's intervention brought the threats to a halt. Describing the period, he said: "I felt terrible danger... I was not sleeping at night... I had a guard at the house, I installed a modern alarm system, I had my hunting rifle next to the bed." He declined, however, to name the individual responsible, though he confirmed he knows who it is, as well as who informed him that the individual held messages given to him by Sandy.
The authenticity of the messages published by Drousiotis is currently being examined at the European Police Office (Europol) laboratories in The Hague, where they have been sent for forensic analysis.
Drousiotis accuses police of orchestrated effort to discredit him
In a separate post published on the same day, Drousiotis turned his fire on the police and the government, accusing them of what he called "wrongful excessive zeal" aimed at dismantling his allegations and presenting them as a product of his imagination. He said that for ten days police had been "working feverishly to prove that what I indicated is a product of my imagination," describing it as an "orchestrated operation" to ridicule him. Citing a newspaper report containing a sworn police statement about a search of a residence, he claimed the official position presents the contested messages as fabricated, attributing them to a third party and branding them a "fabrication" in order, he argued, to refute references to corruption cases.
Drousiotis said he felt compelled to release a new audio document, clarifying that it had never been his intention to turn the matter into "a serial," but that he was doing so to defend his position that the substance of the information he had published needed to be investigated by "independent, experienced and specialised criminal investigators." The audio, he said, includes conversations that, in his view, demonstrate that the person he refers to was in Germany and expressing fears for his life. He also acknowledged that in some instances photographs taken from the internet were used, attributing this to the vulnerable position of the person involved and their effort to be believed. He maintained that the focus of any investigation should be "the substance of the information" contained in the messages, not their authenticity, adding that if the same level of zeal had been applied to investigating the alleged conduct, "today we might be talking about real suspects."
Papadakis waits, and asks questions
In a post on X, Dimitris Papadakis said he was waiting "with great patience for the results of the police investigations into matters that concern me." He left pointed questions about the origin of the contested material, writing that "the suitcase cannot go far," and asking directly who fabricated it, who implicated him in it and why.
Questions Costas Clerides has not answered
Politis sought comment from former Attorney General Costas Clerides. He did not respond. Following his brother's public statements on The LegalMatters Podcast, he has yet to address publicly whether he sent the message published by Drousiotis, whether the person alleged to have threatened his brother is indeed Christodoulou, or whether he can confirm his brother's account. Those questions remain unanswered.
Christodoulou, for his part, has given two statements to police in which he said he has known Sandy since 2020 and met her on three occasions: at his office, in a park and at an apartment. He said their relationship lasted one year and denied any sexual contact or financial exchanges. He has rejected all SMS messages implicating him in the case, claiming they are forgeries.
Ten reasons the Sandy case is unprecedented, according to legal analyst Christofi
Speaking on Politis Radio 107.6 and 97.6, lawyer and LegalMatters podcast host Christoforos Christofi described the latest public intervention by Police Chief Themistocles Arnaoutis as "unfortunate," saying his refusal to answer media questions had generated more questions than it resolved. Christofi argued the case is without precedent in Cyprus, pointing to ten distinguishing features: no complaint has been filed by an alleged victim; the case entered the public domain through a journalist's post rather than a formal process; offences as serious as bribery and corruption are being attributed to former senior members of the judiciary; and the country's top legal institutions, including the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, are implicated. The person making the allegations, he noted, is a public figure and parliamentary candidate, which adds political weight, particularly given an expected report from the Anti-Corruption Authority on related individuals.
Christofi also raised the presumption of innocence, arguing the manner of disclosure had effectively reversed the burden of proof. He noted that the initial evidence consisted solely of message screenshots, without the actual devices as exhibits, and that the allegations, centred on a former Supreme Court member, stretch in certain aspects to the limits of the conceivable. All those implicated have categorically denied involvement. On the search warrant executed against lawyer Nicos Clerides, Christofi said it had violated legal professional privilege unacceptably, as police failed to provide safeguards that the material seized related strictly to this case. He called for the immediate appointment of independent criminal investigators to oversee the inquiry alongside police, to secure the credibility and impartiality of the process.