Court upholds order deeming Chlorakas building unfit

The administrative court has rejected an appeal by a company seeking to continue using a specific building in Chlorakas to host asylum seekers, the legal service said on Wednesday after successfully challenging the appeal in court.

The company had appealed for an interim order to suspend the implementation of the district officer’s decree, issued November 17 last year, pursuant to the provisions of the Roads and Buildings Regulation Law.

The decree prohibits the use of the building for the accommodation of political asylum seekers, after the building was deemed by the competent authority, namely the Paphos district administration, to be unfit for human habitation and use due to unsanitary conditions.

The court, adopting the position of the attorney general, rejected the applicant company’s claims on the two conditions required for the issue of a suspension order.

Those concern the manifest illegality in issuing the order and proof of irreparable damage, holding that, on the one hand, there was no apparent illegality, and, on the other hand, the applicant company had not precisely identified the damage and proved that it was irreparable, that is to say, not quantifiable in monetary terms.

The case was handled on behalf of the attorney general of the Republic by senior legal counsel Yianna Hadjihanna and lawyer Simos Platis.

Local authorities had also cut the water supply in 2018, according to the water development department, after financial disputes between the manager of the apartment complex and the Chlorakas community council. However, only a section of the complex was affected.

Late in January, about 600 third-country nationals who live in that section, including Syrian refugee families, protested demanding for the water supply to be reconnected.

Meanwhile, locals, mainly Greek Cypriots, have protested the presence of migrants in the area following a massive fight among tenants of the specific residence. In their two protests, locals requested from the state to “put Cypriots first” and implement a decree which is in force in Chlorakas that prohibits additional asylum seekers from settling in the village.

Following the violent incident which led to the arrest of 15 people, police have been carrying sweeps in Chlorakas.