Suspected arsonists accused of causing death, in custody

TWO suspected arsonists are in custody accused of causing the death of an Iranian man who had come to the TRNC to help his nephew re-open a Gazimağusa bar.

Ali Demirbağ and Ethem Demir appeared for the second time before Gazimağusa District Court following the death of Ali Rezay Rasekh, 65, on December 12. They were remanded in custody for eight days on Monday

Mr Rasekh had been sleeping inside the Big Boss establishment when the fire started, so that he could get up early to help put up new signs at the business, reports said last week.

Two cars in Gazimağusa were also set on fire during a “simultaneous” attack.

Demirbağ and Demir were arrested three days later and were questioned at different police stations after detectives identified a car driven by Demirbağ from CCTV footage.

Tyre marks outside the Big Boss property also matched those belonging to the vehicle, the court was told, and police had recovered clothes “smelling of smoke” that Demirbağ had been wearing on the night of the attack from a “locker” in Girne.

Officers had obtained “lots of pieces of evidence that proved” the two men were behind the arson attacks, and some had been “sent to a lab for testing”, the court heard.

Demir, who had broken down in tears at a prior hearing last Friday, protested his innocence, claiming that he was “nowhere near Gazimağusa” on the night of the fires.

CCTV recordings and mobile phone records, however, had put him in Gazimağusa on the night of the attacks, the court heard.