World IN BRIEF : CYPRUS : Leader of 1974 Coup Freed From Prison

Nicos Sampson, convicted leader of an abortive coup that led to a Turkish invasion and the division of Cyprus, was released from prison on a legal technicality. Sampson was ordered freed because he was not served with a proper arrest warrant on his return after 10 years in exile. He left Cyprus in 1979 but did not return despite his written assurance to do so. When he eventually returned in June, 1990, he was promptly imprisoned. Sampson, 55, was convicted in 1976 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the bloody coup that overthrew the late Archbishop Makarios in July, 1974.