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How the mighty have fallen. A tight embrace with power leads with mathematical precision to arrogance, hubris and the (illusory) sense that nothing can touch you. Give any form of power to someone with authoritarian tendencies and you’ll watch them transform into a petty little dictator. Of course, the more resounding the rise, the more spectacular the fall.
Until the day before yesterday, Nicoletta Tsikkini was an ordinary citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, one of thousands with strong anti-government sentiments that she expresses almost daily through her social media posts. In one of these—a video where she lays into President Christodoulides over the century’s greatest con trick with his pension “donation”—Nicoletta noticed a comment from a woman who was unknown to her, though the commenter implied she knew her well: “Shut up before I start airing your dirty laundry in public…”. The woman’s certainty about the dirty laundry of someone she didn’t know led Nicoletta to her profile, where she discovered that the lady in question, besides being a staunch Christodoulides supporter, was… a police officer. She screenshots the dirty laundry threat and circulates it online to expose the bully—and strikes gold: The woman who threatened her isn’t just a police officer, but was recently appointed to CIS (!) [Editor’s note: CIS refers to the Cyprus Intelligence Service]—a service whose job description is precisely surveillance and, if necessary, the exposing of dirty laundry! And the cherry on top? Both she and her husband belong to President Christodoulides’ very close circle (hence, obviously, the excessive zeal for… cleanliness).
The matter naturally escalated. Through her lawyer, Nicoletta filed a complaint about the threat with Human Rights Commission chairwoman Irene Charalambidou, who registered the matter for discussion (to be heard on 15 September) and, in turn, sent letters to the CIS director and the Chief of Police. The former reacted immediately, removing the brazen police officer from CIS (she was transferred to the Aliens and Immigration Service, presumably to unleash all those lovely feelings on foreigners unfortunate enough to cross her path), whilst we’re very curious to see the police response, though it has a very poor track record when it comes to pursuing the bad apples identified within its ranks.
I wonder whether this dirty-laundry-exposer feels as strong, untouchable and invincible today as she did the day she wrote—publicly and shamelessly—that threat. I very much doubt it. Most likely, she’ll follow the well-trodden path of every internet ‘tough guy’ who threatens with the attitude of a thousand monkeys and then whines, “It wasn’t me…” the moment they face consequences. She’ll cry that she’s fallen victim to… cannibalism and beg not to be punished “for one mistake”, etc. etc. We’ve seen this script thousands of times with cowardly bullies who feel omnipotent either behind the safety of a keyboard or—as in the case of our former CIS officer—having close ties to the President of the Republic, in whose name they commit their shameful acts.
The issue is, of course, far more serious than some mainstream media want you to believe. We’re talking about a clear, brazen threat to expose personal data from an employee of a service that has the means to do so. And with such audacity and arrogance that she trumpets it publicly, believing she’s omnipotent, that no one and nothing can touch her because she knows the right people. And when you consider her close relationship with a President who demonstrably plays dirty by recruiting fake profiles and paid trolls to attack his critics, we’re talking about situations reminiscent of the dark days of wiretapping, surveillance files and informants.
With the outcry over the disaster in mountainous Limassol, the exposure of the state mechanism’s non-existent preparedness, the natural gas and electricity interconnection fiascos, the Cyprus issue stalemate, the difficulty in finding worthy replacements for ministers who should have left yesterday (every day Marios Hartsiotis remains in post is another blow to the President’s already punctured credibility), the governing parties’ submersion, Annita’s mess and the emboldened far-right’s forced retreat, the Christodoulides government now behaves like a wounded animal ready to pounce—sometimes itself, sometimes through its pitiful lackeys—against even ordinary citizens exercising justified criticism. And as you’ve seen, even using underhanded, dirty means. The dirty-laundry-exposer may have been unceremoniously booted from CIS, but she remains in the police force, which is called upon to explain yet another perjured member who uses her position and connections to blackmail and threaten citizens who simply don’t fancy the government.
At this point, they’re not just incompetent—they’re starting to become dangerous, too.
This article was originally published on 27.08.2025
Source: THE DIRTY LAUNDRY
