Filenews 29 May 2025 - by Michalis Hadzivasilis
The Ministry of Justice has made significant changes to the original text of the bill for combating violence in stadiums, which imposes a drug and breathalyzer test on fans before entering sports venues, resulting in its submission to the Plenary Session of the Parliament for a vote or rejection.
The crucial bill that is estimated to impose order on fan violence, was discussed yesterday in the Legal Committee of the Parliament in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Marios Hartsiotis, and it was decided to resubmit the final text, to hold another session of the Committee and then to send it to the Plenary. The revised bill, as we are informed, will be sent to the Parliament next Monday. Informing the Committee, the representative of the Ministry of Justice, Nikos Chrysostomou, said that after consultation with the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection and provided that people who will undergo a drug test or breathalyzer test in public view are not stigmatized, a change was made to the bill and the tests will be carried out in an enclosed space outside the stadiums.
Another change that is coming concerns the security officer and the supervisor, who today can prohibit the entry or stay in the stadium of people who themselves judge that they should not be there. These persons would not be affected if they did their job in good faith. "We saw that this provision concerned subjective criteria and we wanted to introduce objective criteria, so that there is a reason why someone is prohibited from entering or staying in the stadium," the spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said.
At this point, the Chairman of the Committee, Nikos Tornaritis, said that "we were ready to send the bill to the Plenary, now you are coming with changes and your statement, Mr. Minister, that it is ready, is not valid, nothing more untrue". The Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, Irene Loizidou Nicolaides, told the Committee that she had expressed reservations about the alcohol and drug control process outside the stadium, an amendment was made so that people would not be exposed and we agree.
On behalf of the Cyprus Bar Association, lawyer Ilias Stefanou expressed his reservations regarding the provision on the rights of minors, stressing that they should be invoked when it concerns the arrests of children and asked for it to become more urgent for cases of violence in the stadiums to be heard immediately. The president of PASP, Spyros Neophytidis, pointed out that provisions for specifications with cameras are not included. "If we are going to make legislation and the police are blind inside the stadiums, then we are wasting our time," he said.
On his part, the president of the Cyprus Police Association, Lefteris Kyriakou, said that the duties of police officers will be increased, so more members will be needed, there is no provision for Fans' Associations and called for the holding of matches without the existence of certificates of suitability of the stadium to be criminalized. The president of the police guild Equality, Nikos Loizidis, called for a tripling of the penalties and said that there will now be a triple control outside the stadiums and that is why more funds will be needed.
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou, in his intervention, said that the new bill will go to the Plenary without the consent of some who will be called upon to implement the law, "which is why we will not vote for a law that will not be implemented".
In his statements, the Chairman of the Committee, Nikos Tornaritis, said that the Committee was informed that there was a revised bill, which has not yet been sent to the House of Representatives. "We expect the Ministry of Justice to send the revised bill so that the comments of the competent authorities can be submitted, the observations of the MPs can be heard so that we can proceed with a discussion of the issue," he noted. "This bill must soon be taken to the Plenary. This, of course, depends on the competent ministry and the speed with which it will operate," he clarified.
Cameras in stadiums with 500 spectators
Among other things, the bill extends the implementation of closed-circuit surveillance to stadiums with 500 spectators or more, instead of the current 2,000. In this way, anonymity in sports venues is abolished. "Someone will behave differently if there are cameras in the stands and otherwise if there are none."
At the same time, controls at the entrances to the stadiums will be strengthened after the police officers return, while the use and transfer of slogans of political content will also be prohibited and fans will not be allowed to enter the stadium holding such banners. The main issue introduced by the bill and causing reactions concerns the power given, in exceptional cases, to the Council of Ministers to decide not to hold a football match if it is found that there are serious security reasons.
