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Vandals steal corpse of former Cyprus president

Vandals dug up the grave of former Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and made off with his corpse, security sources said yesterday.
Papadopoulos died one year ago and was buried at a cemetery on the outskirts of Nicosia, the capital. Authorities discovered the corpse was missing yesterday morning.
A witness at the graveyard said the coffin had been opened, and was empty. Family members and scores of police were at the scene.
A police spokesman had no immediate comment.
Papadopoulos, president of Cyprus from 2003 to February 2008, had led Greek Cypriot rejection of a United Nations reunification blueprint for ethnically divided Cyprus in 2004.
The Greek Cypriot side have now re-launched peace negotiations with Turkish Cypriots. The island was split in a 1974 Turkish invasion triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup.
Papadopoulos had sought re-election in February 2008, but lost to Demetris Christofias, a former partner in his centre-left coalition.
A few months later he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and died at the age of 74 on Dec. 12 2008.



 

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