Lefka court to reopen on Monday

The courthouse in the village of Lefka is to recommence operations on Monday after being closed for over five years due to renovations.

The building had been closed in 2018 due to safety fears, with court proceedings moving to nearby Morphou as a result.

Lefka had been separated from Morphou as a ‘district’ in the north in December 2016, and as such would ordinarily have its own courthouse and police department, as all the north’s other five ‘districts’ do.

With the reopening of the courthouse on Monday, the north will have six district courts, in Famagusta, Kyrenia, Lefka, Morphou, Nicosia, and Trikomo.

Lefka residents had in January expressed concerns about their village’s lack of courthouse, with the Lefka Civil Society Organisations Platform saying an “increasing number of crimes” had brought the matter to the fore.

“Trying those who commit crimes in the place where they were committed sets an example, and this is a serious deterrent, and aids in preventing crimes,” they said.

They had also spoken up about their district’s lack of police department.

Lefka’s police department was transferred to Morphou in 1977, with the Turkish Cypriot police having made no move as yet to re-establish a Lefka police department since Lefka’s separation from Morphou.

“A Lefka police department should be established immediately before more serious crimes are committed in our district,” Lefka residents said.