Ex-president's stolen body reburied
Relatives and supporters attend a brief reburial ceremony for former Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos (AP)
The body of former Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos has been reburied, three months after it was stolen from its grave in an apparent extortion bid.
Orthodox Christian priests offered prayers during the 30-minute reburial ceremony as hundreds of Papadopoulos family friends and supporters crowded into the small, suburban cemetery in Nicosia from where the corpse was snatched during an overnight storm on December 11.
Onlookers applauded and shouted "immortal, immortal!" as Mr Papadopoulos's two sons and closest aides carried the flower-topped coffin back to its grave.
"An ordeal has ended for us today," the ex-leader's son and political heir-apparent Nicholas Papadopoulos told reporters after the ceremony. "We hope our father will finally find his peace."
Although the body was recovered, the thieves' motives remain a mystery.
Cyprus's justice minister has said the shocking theft had "financial motives" but refused to elaborate.
A spokesman for the Papadopoulos family said no ransom demand was made, although the family had spoken with an individual about "reward money" for information on the corpse's location - money which was never paid.
Police said there were three suspects and one of them, a 31-year-old Indian national who became remorseful over his alleged role in the theft, has claimed that a convicted murderer - Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, 44 - masterminded the theft from prison.
Police allege that the Indian national told Mr Papadopoulos's family the body was hidden in a grave on the outskirts of Nicosia and asked for money to start a new life abroad, but never got any.
A court ordered the Indian national and Kitas's 48-year-old brother - Mamas Prokopiou Kitas - to be held for eight days while authorities investigated 11 charges, including extortion, conspiracy to commit a felony and insult to religion. The three suspects have not yet entered a plea, and the identification of the Indian national has been made difficult by various spellings of his name.
