**Thieves have stolen the corpse of Tassos Papadopoulos, the former president of the Republic of Cyprus, police say.**Mr Papadopoulos’ body was removed after his grave in Nicosia was broken into overnight, officials said.
Marios Garoyan, leader of the former premier’s centre-right Diko party, condemned the act as a “heinous and terrible crime”, AFP reported.
Mr Papadopoulos died of lung cancer in Nicosia in 2008, aged 74.
The theft from the Deftera village cemetery in Nicosia was discovered a day before the first anniversary of his death.
The motive for the theft remains unclear, investigators say.
A veteran of Greek Cypriot politics, Mr Papadopoulos became president in 2003 but lost a bid for a second term in 2008. He was defeated by Demetris Christofias, a former coalition partner.
One of his achievements was to oversee the Republic of Cyprus’s entry into the European Union in 2004.