Murder suspect named

POLICE have named a Pakistani man as their prime suspect in the murder of an artist and teacher who was throttled with his own belt last week.

Detectives issued a picture of Muhammad Salman, (right) whom they want to question over the killing of Hasan Işık Özgöçmen, 53.

Greek Cypriot authorities have also been alerted via the Bicommunal Committee on Crime and Criminal Matters after it was determined that Salman may have fled to the South after Mr Özgöçmen’s body was found in woodland at İskele on September 30.

Investigators discovered that Mr Özgöçmen had a second mobile phone, and are said to have determined from it that the murder took place during the daytime on Friday, September 28.

Subsequent checks of security camera footage in the area revealed a second person near the victim shortly before the murder, and police identified him as Salman, a Pakistani national living in Lefkoşa since 2015.

He is said to have worked at three or four places during this period, including a tile factory at Haspolat, but to have been unemployed since June and therefore currently an illegal resident.

Kıbrıs newspaper reported that police had questioned a friend of the suspect last Friday, and had learned that Salman had told him: “I did something very bad and I am going to go to Limassol, in the South.”

Biommunal committee head Hakkı Önen said the information had been conveyed to police in the South but there had been no response yet.

Asked if the suspect might be handed back if found in the South, he said there was no such agreement, but they would consider the situation after an imminent European Human Rights Court decision in a case about lack of cooperation on crime between the two sides.