Grave robbers

The body of former Greek Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos was dug up by vandals on late Thursday or early Friday, say police.

Three people helped with inquiries into the macabre theft, but no arrests were made, said a police spokesman. There has been no claim of responsibility, no sign of the corpse and the vandals' motives for stealing it remain unclear.

Whoever took the body, just before the first anniversary of Papadopoulos' death on Saturday, appears to have worked overnight through torrential rain. A former bodyguard found earth beside the grave, along with an empty casket, when he visited the cemetery on the outskirts of Nicosia to light a candle on Friday morning.

Act was 'sacrilege'

Cypriot president Demetris Christofias appealed for calm from Brussels, where he was attending the EU summit, but also voiced his outrage.

"I am appealing to the public to remain calm in the light of this provocation. I cannot describe this act any other way," he said.

"This is a sacrilege. It is an immoral and condemnable act which is a blight to our culture and respect for our dead."

Papadopoulos died a year ago on Saturday, aged 74, and was celebrated by many Greek Cypriots for rejecting a United Nations reunification plan for the island in 2004. The Turkish population of the island, which was divided in a 1974 Turkish invasion after a Greek-inspired coup, had voted in favor of the proposals.

Service to go ahead

Papadopoulos's family said it would go ahead with a planned commemoration service on Saturday.

"This sacrilege, apart from the sadness and anger it has caused, cannot in any way bury the politics and the legacy which Tassos Papadopoulos left behind," read a family statement.

"Wherever he is now, his voice will continue to be heard."

Papadopoulos was president from 2003 until 2008, when he lost his bid at re-election to Christofias, a former coalition partner in his center-left government. His rival has now relaunched reunification talks.

rc/Reuters/AP

Editor: Kyle James