Filenews 20 March 2025
An eight-day detention order was issued today by the Nicosia District Court against a 32-year-old man, who was arrested for facilitating investigations, regarding investigated cases of robbery and extortion of money by false representations.
According to a complaint made to the Police, yesterday around one in the morning, a 54-year-old man received a phone call from a fast food restaurant manager in Nicosia, to pick up and deliver an order of food, while he was informed that the customer would only have a €100 banknote. The 54-year-old, after handing over the order to the alleged customer, grabbed a €50 bill from the complainant, which he would give him as change, punched him on the shoulder and fled.
During the investigation of the case, testimony emerged against the 32-year-old, who was arrested yesterday with a court warrant. Also, two more cases of extortion of money by false representations, committed on March 13 and 16, 2025, in Nicosia, are being investigated against him.
The Nicosia TAE continues the exams.
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Referring to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union that the detention of an asylum seeker or an applicant for international protection is only permitted if this is necessary for the protection of the national security of the State or the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others and public order, the Supreme Court rejected a request by an applicant for international protection – who had confessed to a police officer of the Asylum and Migration Service for the murder of women in 2021 and to committing criminal acts in his country of origin as a member of a secret organization – to be released using the privileged warrant Habeas Corpus ad Subjiciendum.
In the present case, the applicant, who has illegally entered the areas controlled by the Government through occupied areas, requested the issuance of this privileged warrant, claiming the "unjustifiably long period of his detention", which, however, is the result of a detention decree issued against him by the Administration for reasons of security of the Republic as a person dangerous to public order, due to the nature and seriousness of what he himself recounted.
As the Court further points out, "the applicant's right to effective judicial protection can only be examined in the light of the protection of the national security of the State, and the detention of a person when this is necessary for the protection of national security or public order is an appropriate measure to protect the public from any danger that the conduct of the person in question imposes [...] for as long as the reasons set out in paragraph 1 are valid ...'.
In the case under consideration, according to the Supreme Court, it has not emerged that the competent authorities of the Republic are acting in bad faith or have abandoned the purpose for which the applicant is detained, which is the protection of public order. Therefore, the applicant did not bear the burden of proof that the duration of his detention was not reasonable and that it had become illegal.
It should be noted that the Asylum Service has at the same time excluded the applicant from the status of supplementary protection, as it is considered that he has committed serious crimes (conspiracy to murder, roaming under a state of narcotics for the purpose of committing a felony, premeditated murder, kidnapping or kidnapping or deprivation of liberty for the purpose of premeditated murder, and participation in a criminal organization).
Against the decision to exclude him from refugee status, the applicant filed an appeal against the Asylum Service, which is pending at the Administrative Court for International Protection. In the meantime, the Administration regularly reviews the applicant's detention and takes preliminary steps to find a country for his deportation when the case is final.
The case was handled on behalf of the Attorney General of the Republic by the Prosecutor of the Republic Ms. Yianna Hadjihanna and the Lawyer Ms. Aphrodite Anastasiades.
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With explicit references that it is necessary to stop the escalation of the criminal activity of illegals who intentionally and maliciously provoke fire, and this necessity imposes the attribution of a deterrent character to the punishment in order to protect the life and property of citizens, the Larnaca Assize Court, with its recent decision, imposed concurrent prison sentences of fourteen years to a citizen who was found guilty of the offenses of intentional and illegal arson (lighting of fire) in crops and plantations, malicious damage and assault on an instrument of order.
According to an announcement by the Legal Service, indicative of the seriousness that the Court attributes to such crimes and the frequency with which they are committed, are the scattered remarks in its decision. Features:
"This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated. The fact that there was no danger to human life and that the defendant had no interest or financial benefit does not differentiate the fact that he set fire to another person's property. Of course, the fact that the fire did not spread cannot be taken into account as a mitigating factor, given that the fire originated from his deliberate action. Its non-expansion is also due to the immediate intervention of the Fire Service. In other words, an entire mechanism was mobilized to extinguish a fire that came from an unauthorized action of the accused. In fact, his delinquent behaviour did not stop there. He also attacked a law enforcement officer who rushed to the scene performing his duties for the action of the accused."
"There is no doubt that the offences in which the accused has been found guilty are serious. It has been repeatedly stressed that the seriousness of an offence is reflected by the maximum penalty provided for by law [...], which in the case of Article 317 (d) of the Criminal Code Cap. 154 in the fact that he set fire, which is the most serious, the punishment provided for is that of 14 years imprisonment".
"This outrage imposes the attribution of a deterrent character to the punishment in an attempt to limit the criminal activity of illegals and to protect the life and property of citizens."
In order to mitigate the sentences, the particular circumstances of the accused and his immediate admission of committing the offences were taken into account.
On behalf of the Attorney General of the Republic, the case was handled by Mr. Marios A. Koutsoftas, Lawyer of the Republic.
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Yesterday morning, the Police conducted searches in a cell in the Central Prison on the basis of a court warrant without detecting anything, but a large amount of money was found in the premises of a relative, which is why he was arrested.
According to information from Filenews, the investigations were carried out by members of the Police Headquarters, the Hellenic Police Force, the Hellenic Police Force and the MMAD on the basis of information and a large study of data and reports that the investigating authorities had in their hands. During the search of the prisoner, nothing illegal was found.
The investigations of the Police continued outside the Central Prison, after three warrants were executed on an equal number of premises, which belong to persons related to the convict. According to information from the Police, during the investigations, about €160,000 was found in the house of a person, which was confiscated.
This person was arrested and the offences of illegal possession of property and money laundering are being investigated against him. For the same case, the Police proceeded to the arrest of a second person at noon on Friday.
Photo from the location of the crypt in the house, where the large amount of money was found.
