North property case against German woman continues
The case against the 49-year-old German woman who stands accused of having sold Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north continued on Monday, with lawyers deliberating the validity of an amended version of her statement submitted by the prosecution following the conclusion of a the “trial within a trial” related to the statement she gave to the police after being arrested in 2024.
The court had found within that “trial within a trial” that the woman’s statement could be submitted as evidence by the prosecution provided that specific questions and answers were removed.
As such, police sergeant major Demetra Stavrou attempted to submit a photocopy of the amended statement, but was met by an objection by defence lawyer Sotiris Argyrou, who said the statement was “a completely different text” to the one the woman had initially given to the police.
He added that his client had “never had the opportunity to question the content” of the document.
However, the court stated that the document had already been compared with the text of the initial statement and found that its instructions had been followed.
Then, prosecution lawyer Anna Mattheou said the formulation of the text was carried out “strictly based on a court order” and that as such, the court could not review the text.
Judge Nikolas Georgiades then described Argyrou’s objection as “unfounded” and ordered that the text be submitted as evidence.
The prosecution then requested that additional witnesses be heard, with Argyrou then raising a fresh objection, questioning when the testimonies were taken and saying that the timeframe of those testimonies “is crucial to the process”.
He added that he was unaware of any new testimony, before Mattheou said that the new witnesses would not “substantially alter the nature of the case” with their testimony.
She argued that the hearing of new witnesses “does not affect the right of the accused, nor the safe conduct of proceedings”.
Argyrou then requested time to form an argument over the request for new witnesses.
The case was then adjourned, with the next hearing scheduled for Wednesday. The woman remains in custody.
The woman was arrested after having a conversation aboard a flight with Elam member of the European parliament Geadis Geadi in which prosecutors allege that she admitted to selling Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north.
Three people have thus far been handed jail sentences since the Republic of Cyprus began initiating legal proceedings against people it accuses of illegally using, developing, and selling Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north.
Most recently, Israeli property developer Simon Aykut was sentenced to five years in prison, after it was found that complexes of which he had taken ownership and developed cover 394,969 square metres of land, with a corresponding market value of just over €36 million.
Previously, two Hungarian women were sentenced to two and a half years and 15 months in prison respectively in May last year after advertising the sale of houses in the north on their social media accounts and websites.