The corpse of former Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos has been stolen from his grave near Nicosia.
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Mr Papadopoulos death.
Perpetrators are thought to have worked under torrential rain overnight, ransacking the grave. The desecration was discovered this morning.
A former bodyguard who visited the tomb found piles of earth by the graveside and the empty casket.
No one has claimed responsibility and the vandals' motivation is unclear.
‘I am appealing to the public to remain calm in the light of this provocation. I cannot describe this act any other way,’ Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said from Brussels, where he was attending an EU summit.
‘This is a sacrilege,’ he told reporters. ‘It is an immoral and condemnable act which is a blight to our culture and respect for our dead.’
Those responsible shifted a 250kg slab of marble covering the tomb before digging into the grave.
Mr Papadopoulos was president of Cyprus from 2003 to 2008, losing his bid at re-election to Mr Christofias, a former coalition partner in his centre-left government.
During his term, he led Greek Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification blueprint on Cyprus, split in a 1974 Turkish invasion after a brief Greek inspired coup.
Mr Papadopoulos's family said they would go ahead as planned with a religious service commemorating the death on Saturday.
‘This sacrilege, apart from the sadness and anger it has caused, cannot in any way bury the politics and the legacy which Tassos Papadopoulos left behind,’ it said in a statement.
‘Wherever he is now, his voice will continue to be heard during these difficult times for our national cause.’
A heavy smoker, Mr Papadopoulos died at the age of 74 on 12 December 2008.
