This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The president of Cyprus has fired the country’s police chief, saying botched missing person investigations might have allowed a self-confessed serial killer to claim more victims.

The move by Nicos Anastasiades on Friday came the day after Cyprus’s justice minister resigned, amid intensifying criticism of police for mistakes in following up on the disappearances of some of the seven foreign women and girls a 35-year-old army captain has told authorities he killed.

In a letter to the police chief, Zacharias Chrysostomou, Anastasiades said the head of any organisation must take responsibility for the actions of subordinates.

The “apparent negligence or failure of police personnel to carry out an investigation on missing persons” possibly contributed to the “abhorrent crimes that have shaken Cypriot society”, the president wrote.

The suspect, identified as Nikos Metaxas, told investigators he disposed of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mineshaft, a poisonous lake and a pit at a military firing range. The oldest killing was in 2016.

Immigrant rights activists have accused the police of not investigating when foreign workers are reported missing. The victims include three Filipino women; a six-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of the Filipino women; a Romanian mother and daughter; and a woman believed to be from Nepal.

Earlier on Friday, Anastasiades met diplomats from the Philippines, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka to “offer an apology on behalf of the state and the Cypriot people” about the crimes, said the government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou.

Prodromou said the president told the representatives that foreign worker complaints about rights and living conditions would be handled by the ombudsman’s office.

He said the diplomats acknowledged the killings were an isolated incident that did not correspond with the generally good experiences workers from their countries have in Cyprus.