Pafos Live 6 December 2024
The Police arrested a 24-year-old resident of Paphos yesterday to facilitate investigations into cases of burglary, theft and robbery, committed between October and November 2024, in the Paphos district.
The 24-year-old is being investigated in one case of car theft, one case of robbery with theft of machine batteries and two restaurant burglaries. The theft of the vehicle was reported on October 28 by a company manager. According to the complainant, the car owned by the company was stolen on October 27, while it was parked in an open area in Paphos.
The vehicle was located a few days later, in Paphos and handed over to its owner. On November 2, a resident of Paphos reported to the police that around 4 a.m. The same day, he spotted a person holding a machine battery in Paphos in an area where he parked his machines. As the complainant complained, as soon as this person noticed him, he pointed a knife at him and taking the battery, fled.
According to the complainant, nine batteries and 200 liters of oil were stolen from the premises. On November 18, two cases of burglaries in restaurants in Paphos, committed at dawn of the same day, were reported to the ICF of Pafos. According to the complainants, electronic devices and money were stolen from the two premises. The investigation of the above secured testimony against the 24-year-old, on the basis of which a court warrant was issued for his arrest.
Yesterday afternoon, the 24-year-old was arrested under the warrant and taken into custody to facilitate interrogations. Today he appeared before the Paphos court, which issued a six-day detention order against him.
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Filenews
The sentencing of a 52-year-old lawyer from Nicosia is causing a sensation, as he was sentenced on Friday morning to immediate imprisonment for 2.5 years by the Larnaca Permanent Assize Court. The lawyer, who the court was told from 2009 to 2012 served as internal legal counsel to the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus, was found guilty in a serious case of money laundering and extortion of money by false representations. Specifically, he was convicted of extorting €20,000 from the complainant in the case in April 2019 by conspiring with a client who was a co-defendant in the trial that began in December 2021. The latter, a 41-year-old Greek Cypriot from Larnaka district, was sentenced to 7 years in prison after extorting €420,000 from the same complainant. The 41-year-old was also found guilty of death threats.
It all started in April 2016 when the 41-year-old, who is a relative of the complainant, started asking for large sums of money in the form of loans, ostensibly to set up a grain company, which would have an EU grant. He then asked again for money, ostensibly to set up a farm with Damascus goats. Along the way, the complainant realised something was wrong and refused to give any more money to the 41-year-old, who began making death threats. The lawyer's involvement came three years later and specifically in April 2019, when he contacted the complainant and told him that his 41-year-old client was allegedly arrested by the British Bases and that he had to give €20,000, which was the amount to be paid as security for his release.
The case was reported to the Police in October 2020 and registered before the Assize Court in December 2021. After several postponements and a lengthy hearing, the sentencing decision was handed down today. The court's words about the 52-year-old lawyer were overwhelming due to the fact that he is a justice officer. The court also rejected his lawyer's request to take into account the fact that he will be prosecuted by the Bar Association and possibly deprived of his license. Mitigating factors were his clean criminal record and the fact that he is the parent of a minor child. A request for a suspended sentence was denied.
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Four vehicles were engulfed in flames in Strovolos, around 02:10 in the morning on Friday (06/10).
According to police, the fire initially broke out in a vehicle parked in a parking lot of an apartment building, as a result of which it was completely destroyed.
The fire spread to three more vehicles, one of which was completely destroyed, while the other two suffered extensive damage.
At first sight it seems that the fire was set maliciously.
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The Police continued today the actions to identify third-country nationals residing illegally in Cyprus, with a coordinated nationwide police control operation.
During today's control operation, members of the Police proceeded to the arrest of 41 persons of various nationalities, who, as has been established, remain illegally on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
They were detained, with the Police already proceeding with the procedures for their immediate repatriation, in cooperation with other competent authorities.
Since the beginning of the year, a total of 9,268 persons residing illegally in Cyprus have been repatriated through the repatriation procedures of persons residing illegally in Cyprus.
The efforts of the Police to locate and repatriate persons residing illegally in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus continue daily.
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A criminal act by throwing a defensive grenade is responsible for the explosion at a house that occurred in the early hours of Friday.
According to the ICF of Limassol, 06/12/2024 at 07:10 a 63-year-old pensioner reported to the police that during the night there was an explosion at her home in the area of Tsirio.
The scene, which was cordoned off, was visited for examinations by the Bade(D) of Limassol, the second officer and members of the ICF of Limassol, as well as the pyrotechnic technician of the Limassol Police Authority, who carried out on-site examinations and investigations.
Preliminary examinations revealed that the explosion was due to the throwing of a defensive fragmentary grenade, which collapsed and exploded on the granite floor of the front porch of the complainant's house.
The scene was photographed and documents were received, which will be sent for scientific examinations.
On-site examinations and investigations at the scene have provided evidence that the explosion occurred at about 00:55 on 06/12/2024.
The amount of damage caused at this stage is unknown.
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Shock and horror is caused by a case being tried before the Larnaca Permanent Assize Court against a 55-year-old Greek Cypriot who was found guilty of raping his 14-year-old niece. The accused faces offences of sexual abuse of the minor, a crime which he repeated twice.
Today the case was set for pleas to mitigate the 55-year-old's sentence, which will be announced on Tuesday, December 10. The trial takes place in camera with the aim of protecting the minor victim. The offences at issue were committed at a house in Larnaka district in 2021. It is noted that the accused did not plead guilty, so a hearing was held in the case.
The same court sentenced in closed proceedings to 2.5 years in prison a 36-year-old foreigner who showed his genitals to a 9-year-old. The defendant was the cohabitant of the minor girl's grandmother and the offences in question took place at a house in the district of Larnaka in 2021. The proceedings in this case were also held behind closed doors. The defendant was found guilty after a court hearing.
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They detained him for more than six months after he was deemed a danger to public order and security, but they did nothing to examine his application for international protection.
The Supreme Court finally ordered his release, pointing the finger at the competent authorities for their inaction in holding a man without further action.
The case concerns a 31-year-old man from Syria who came illegally to Cyprus, for the first time, in 2019, through the areas not controlled by the Republic. On 7.11.2019 he applied for international protection. In February 2023, however, he went back to Syria, only to return to Cyprus again on 10.5.2024.
Consequently, on 13.6.2024, his file was reopened and the examination of his aforesaid application resumed. In this context and after being given the opportunity, he explained that in 2023 he went back to Syria as a result of the earthquake that had occurred there at the time and resulted in the destruction of the house where his wife and parents lived.
In addition, as stated in a decision of the Supreme Court, from searches carried out, competently, photos of two armed members of a specific terrorist organization were found on the applicant's Facebook account. Asked about this, the applicant said that those persons, one was his brother and the other his cousin and had both been killed in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
He denied having any connection with the group and knowing about weapons, explaining that he was in Lebanon with his wife working in construction at the time.
The Court notes that given that the applicant is under the status of an applicant for international protection, his detention is prohibited for this reason alone. However, exceptionally, the applicant was detained under subsection (2)(e) of the above article, since it was considered that this was "necessary for the protection of national security or public order".
In the present case, it is added to the court decision, given the indisputable status under which the applicant finds himself, it is not mentioned in the testimony submitted at what stage the examination of his application for international protection is. In fact, it is not stated that any steps have been taken or are being taken to complete its examination.
This inaction, it is noted, is not justified, especially since the applicant is considered to be a danger to the national security and public order of the Republic, for the reason mentioned above. If this inaction of the competent authority is accepted, basically, the applicant will remain in custody forever. In conclusion, it is found that no sufficient reason has been shown to justify his further detention.
Following this finding, the Court issued an order for the release of the Syrian applicant.
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Officers of the Department of Customs and Excise proceeded to confiscate products that they tried to bring illegally to the free areas from the occupied areas at the Agios Dometios Crossing Point.
Specifically, on 2/12/2024, a vehicle driven by a 35-year-old woman with Romanian citizenship was intercepted. During the inspection of the vehicle, 3 large cartons containing 251 pieces of various hairdressing products that would be used for commercial purposes were found in the storage compartment and rear seats. The goods were not accompanied by the necessary certificate set out in the Green Line Regulation and were therefore confiscated. The driver of the vehicle paid €500 for the out-of-court settlement of the case and abandoned the confiscated items in order to destroy them.
On 3/12/2024, shortly after midnight, a vehicle with driver and co-driver 2 Greek Cypriots 72 and 58 years old respectively was intercepted. When checking the vehicle, it was found that between the doors and behind the front and rear bumpers there were carefully hidden large quantities of tobacco products.
Specifically, 12 boxes of 200 cigarettes each, 55 boxes of heated cigarettes and 1 kg and 125 grams of roll-your-own tobacco, which belonged to the 72-year-old driver, and 7 boxes of 200 cigarettes each, 10 boxes of heated cigarettes, 2 kilos and 450 grams of roll-your-own tobacco and 10 pieces of cigars, were located and confiscated. which belonged to the 58-year-old front passenger. The aforementioned tobacco products did not bear the smoking harm label in Greek and Turkish, nor the safety feature and unique traceability code, indications that they were duty-free.
The driver and front passenger of the vehicle were arrested for flagrant offences and the vehicle was confiscated as a means of transporting tobacco products. Later, the driver was released, after paying an amount of €3,000 for the out-of-court settlement of the offences committed and his vehicle was released with the payment of a return amount of €500. The co-driver was taken to detention and the next day he appeared before the Nicosia District Court, which issued a 2-day detention order. On the same day, he paid €1,200 for the extrajudicial settlement of the offences committed and was released.
