Defence accuses Habakkuk Monastery witness of lying, presents ‘forged’ document

Local churchHabakkukreligionsaint habakkukTop Newstrial Defence accuses Habakkuk Monastery witness of lying, presents ‘forged’ document Avakoum 768x512 1 1 Relevant News Defence accuses Habakkuk Monastery witness of lying, presents ‘forged’ document 16 September 2026 Explainer: EU chief wants Canada to become an ‘associate member’. What does that mean? 16 September 2026 EU eases carbon rules to help heavy industry stay competitive 16 September 2026 newsroom 16 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Defence lawyers for two monks on trial over the Habakkuk Monastery case focused on Wednesday on exposing contradictions in the testimony of prosecution witness Father V. During cross-examination before the three-member Criminal Court, they presented photographs and video from monastery life and its confectionery workshop. The first defendant’s lawyer told the witness he was lying, continuing the cross-examination he had begun the previous Monday. The second defendant’s lawyer then submitted video and photographs as evidence, arguing they contradicted the witness’s testimony of oppression and unequal treatment by his client. The second defendant’s lawyer said his cross-examination of the witness would continue and would be extensive, given the number of photographs and videos he intends to present to the court and the witness. The court granted a defence request to adjourn proceedings due to an unexpected absence, and set the case to resume on September 23 and 28 at 9:30am. During Wednesday’s hearing, the first defendant’s lawyer, Costis Efstathiou, asked the witness whether he had personally seen receipts not being issued for product sales, as he had stated in his testimony from March 2024, and put it to him that the monastery kept receipt books and did issue receipts. The witness replied that he had not personally seen receipts issued during sales. Asked whether he was at the monastery constantly, in a position to see all transactions, or spent more time at the confectionery workshop, he said that on Sundays, because of the liturgy, he was at the guesthouse, and repeated that during those times, when there were more visitors, he did not see receipts being issued, noting there was no cash register either. He also said he was unaware of any receipt books. Costis Efstathiou then asked the witness about the process of issuing his identity card, putting it to him that he had filed a declaration of a lost ID, while the witness had stated his ID was issued after the previous one, held before he became a monk, expired. The witness said that on arriving at the monastery he had handed over his personal documents, and that he had approached Father Porphyrios as his identity card’s expiry date approached, since he would need to travel, and was told at the time to apply for a new one by declaring the document lost. The defence put it to the witness that he was lying and that his ID had actually been due to expire in 2025, meaning it would not have made sense for him to say its expiry was approaching. The witness responded that the outcome was the same either way, rejecting the suggestion that he was lying. He repeated that the first defendant had held his personal documents in any case, from his arrival at the monastery onwards. Costis Efstathiou then presented a payroll document bearing the witness’s photograph. Asked whether it was the same photograph as on his ID, the witness maintained that it could not be, and that the document was forged. He also said he did not know how that photograph had come to be on the document. The second defendant’s lawyer, Efstathios Efstathiou, continuing his cross-examination of the witness, presented the court with an external digital storage device containing 16 media files, five videos and 11 photographs, submitted as evidence. He put it to the witness that he had not been treated differently from other members of the brotherhood, a suggestion the witness disagreed with. The first video shown by the defence, filmed at the confectionery workshop in Aska during the Christmas period, as the witness confirmed, with Christmas carols playing in the background, showed three monks and four women preparing sweets. Asked by the defence, the witness pointed out three commercial ovens inside the workshop in the video. Asked whether he was forced to work 24-hour shifts at the workshop, as he had testified, the witness said that was the space, and that work continued into the early hours of the morning. The defence then presented a photograph showing the witness with two other monastery members in Jerusalem on October 28, 2022, a period during which the witness confirmed the trip was for pilgrimage purposes. Prompted by the defence, the witness said he had a camera with him, visible in the photograph. He added that he had it with the first defendant’s blessing, after asking for something to capture memories, since he did not have a mobile phone, unlike other monks, he said. Asked how the first defendant had reacted to his request to have a camera, the witness said the reaction was positive, but added that this did not negate his testimony that he had suffered oppression, noting that other monks had phones, computers or other electronic devices. He added that this did not amount to equal treatment of all members of the brotherhood, later saying he had acquired the camera after being tonsured a monk, and that his mother had given it to him. In the next photograph presented by the defence, the witness appears with another monk building a snowman, which he described as “playing in the snow” in that moment. Asked by Efstathios Efstathiou whether they needed a blessing to play in the snow, referencing an earlier point in the cross-examination where the witness said he did nothing without first seeking a blessing, the witness said not everything required a blessing, clarifying that he sought blessings for eating or drinking coffee. When the defence noted that conditions at the monastery appeared not to have been so strict, the witness said that after building the snowman, he and the fellow monk went to the workshop, noting that it was icy at the time because of the weather, which was why they were slipping. The defence also referred to a fainting episode suffered by the witness and other monks, asking the reason for their fainting. The witness said it was due to excessive tiredness from working at the workshop, as well as a gas leak. Asked by the defence about the medical diagnosis, he said it was due to inhaling carbon dioxide. The defence put it to the witness that in his explanation he adopts whichever facts suit his narrative, which the witness rejected, saying that tiredness had also contributed, alongside the gas leak. He also said a similar fainting episode had occurred at the monastery during a service that was being livestreamed on video, though he noted he did not have the video himself to submit to the court. (Information from Cyprus News Agency) Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Explainer: EU chief wants Canada to become an ‘associate member’. What does that mean? 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