Cyprus ‘obliged’ to agree to send Aykut to Israel

The Republic of Cyprus is obliged to agree to transfer Israeli prisoner Simon Aykut to the country of which he holds citizenship to serve out the remainder of his sentence, Justice Minister Costas Fitiris said on Monday.

“Israel has requested the transfer of Simon Aykut to Israel to serve his sentence there. We have an obligation to abide by this agreement. We know that this issue is very special due to the usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied territories,” he said.

He added that he has already signed 15 requests for prisoners to be transferred to countries where they hold citizenship since being appointed as justice minister in December, but stressed that “in this case, which is a special issue, all factors are weighed in the public interest”.

“What we have secured in a way from the Israeli side is that it recognises the usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied territories,” he said, before adding that the Israeli government has now issued a travel advisory for the north which “recommends that Israelis not buy properties which have been built on Greek Cypriot land”.

Regarding the “obligation” to transfer Aykut to Israel, he said that “at some point, we have to respond, otherwise we will have consequences”.

Those consequences, he said, would not necessarily come about regarding Cyprus’ relations with the State of Israel, but instead “because we would not be respecting an agreement which exists”.

On the matter of Aykut’s sentence, he said that “due to his age, he can be released once half of his sentence has elapsed”.

“So, we are now talking about whether he will stay in prison for another six to eight months. So, I believe that we cannot risk the public interest for six months in prison. The important thing is that he has been convicted, and that the other state, Israel, has recognised that his conviction was for the usurpation of Greek Cypriot property,” he said.

Aykut was sentenced to five years in prison in October last year, having pled guilty to a total of 40 of the charges he faced related to the development and sale of Greek Cypriot property in the north.

Of the initial 242 charges he faced, 60 are related to “fraudulent real estate transactions”, 60 to being in possession of stolen land, 62 to money laundering, and 60 to conspiracy to commit a crime.

He had been arrested while trying to cross from the north at the Ayios Dhometios crossing point in June 2024.

At the hearing at which Aykut pled guilty, prosecution lawyer Andreas Aristides had told the court that Aykut’s company, the Afik Group, “developed a series of tourist and residential projects which it offered for sale to an international audience”.

He said Aykut, through the Afik group, “participated in the construction and commercial exploitation of six large tourist complexes in areas such as Ayios Amvrosios, Trikomo, Gastria and Akanthou, on plots of land belonging to displaced Greek Cypriots”.

“No consent was given by the legal owners for any use of their properties,” he said, before going on to name the complexes as the Caesar Cliff, the Caesar Resort, the Caesar Beach, the Caesar Blue, the Caesar Breeze and the Caesar Bay.

These complexes, he added, cover 394,969 square metres of land, with a corresponding market value of just over €36 million.