Greek Cypriots arrested in north remanded for three more months
Two of the five Greek Cypriots who were arrested near the village of Galatia, near Trikomo, on suspicion of espionage, were all remanded in custody for a further three months on Thursday.
The pair, a 68-year-old man and the 60-year-old woman, may now remain in custody until the end of October, pending the start of a trial.
Newspaper Yeniduzen described Thursday’s hearing as “intense”, and wrote of high drama in the courtroom, with two Turkish Cypriot members of the public, named Sener Elcil and Teyfik Yoldas, offering to act as guarantors for the pair.
Elcil is a former secretary-general of the Cyprus Turkish teachers’ trade union (Ktos) and Yoldas is a former leader of Dau-Bir-Sen, a trade union for staff at Famagusta’s Eastern Mediterranean University.
However, the newspaper said, the pair were found to not be “reputable guarantors” for the arrested two by the court.
Additionally, it was reported that one of the prosecution lawyers said across the courtroom to Elcil that “you were set up to be here”, and that Elcil replied, “this whole case is a set up!”
The court had heard that the pair had entered the north via the Strovilia crossing point, near Famagusta, and entered a residential complex near Trikomo “without permission”.
A police representative told the court that files held by the pair “contained information on 14 properties”, and that “more than 4,000 emails have been examined” in as part of the police’s investigation into the matter.
These emails, the representative added, suggest that “other crimes may be uncovered”.
The pair face charges of privacy violations, trespassing, and breaching the peace.
Towards the end of proceedings, the two suspects were allowed to speak through an interpreter, promising that if they were released on bail, they would not flee.
Meanwhile, Ariana Kyprianou, the daughter of one of the two arrestees, told the court that she had rented a house in the north for her family, and submitted her lease agreement to the court as evidence.
As the proceedings drew to a close, Elcil and Yoldas also addressed the court, with Elcil saying he would be willing to surrender his car as collateral to allow one of the two arrestees to be released on bail.
He said that while he knew neither suspect, he believed that they are “honest people”.
Yoldas, meanwhile, said that while he did not know the suspects directly, he believed in a united Cyprus.
“A friend told me he found the suspects trustworthy, and that is enough for me,” he said.
However, the court remained unconvinced, and the pair will now remain in custody for a period not exceeding three months pending a trial.
Meanwhile, the remaining three Greek Cypriots who were arrested, two men aged 66 years old and 60 years old and a woman aged 63 years old, had their remands extended for a single day.
They will now appear in a military court in northern Nicosia on Friday.
At a previous hearing, a representative of the Turkish Cypriot police said that the five were seen in a residential area in Galatia, “walking around with a blue folder” and “causing concern”.