George Vassiliou’s body lies in state ahead of funeral

The body of former president George Vassiliou, who passed away on Tuesday night aged 94, will lie in state at Ayia Sofia cathedral in Nicosia on Friday between 10am and 5pm, ahead of his state funeral on Saturday.

The book of condolences for Vassiliou will be open on Friday at the Presidential Palace.

It will be signed in the morning by President Nikos Christodoulides and members of the cabinet. The book will be open for state officials from 10.30am until noon, and for the diplomatic corps from noon until 3pm. Condolence books will also be open at all diplomatic missions abroad.

The funeral service will take place at 1pm on Saturday and the burial will follow at the Aglandjia municipal cemetery. The family will receive condolences at the church from 11.30am.

The day of the funeral has been declared a public holiday.

George Vassiliou is survived by his wife Androulla, his children Sofia, Evelthon and Vasso, and his grandchildren George, Alexandros, Andreana, Savvas and Anthea.

On Wednesday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that Vassiliou’s funeral will take place “with the honours of a sitting president”, and that Cyprus will remain in official mourning until the funeral.

As such, he explained, flags on all public buildings and schools will be flown at half-mast.

In place of wreaths, the family has requested that donations be made to the Arodafnousa palliative care centre, the pancyprian kidney patients organisation and Spavo, the association for the prevention of family violence.