The 49-year-old German woman who stands accused of having sold Greek Cypriot property in the north on Friday told the Nicosia criminal court about the conversation she had with Elam MEP Geadis Geadi while the pair were on board a flight to Cyprus together last year.

That flight had ended with Geadi informing the police that she was selling property in the north which was originally owned by Greek Cypriots, and she had been arrested while attempting to fly home a few days later.

Friday’s hearing was a continuation of the “trial within a trial” over the circumstances surrounding her arrest, with the woman’s lawyers having argued that the manner in which she was arrested, as well as the seizure of her luggage and the search of her electronic devices, was illegal

Prosecution lawyer Anna Mattheou asked the woman to inform the court about the conversation, and she said she had had “two or three conversations” which lasted between five and 10 minutes in total. She also told the court that she does not speak English well.

“[Geadi] was busy with his laptop most of the time. I listened to music and read to calm down, because I usually get nervous when I am on a plane,” she said.

She said Geadi had asked her why she was going to Cyprus and what her job was in Germany, and she said she had told him that she was travelling to the island for a holiday, with Geadi then recommending some destinations for her to visit.

“Then, he asked me if I had also been to northern Cyprus. I replied, ‘yes, my friends live there,” she said, adding that he had asked her for her business card, and that given that she did not have one on her person at the time, he asked her to write down her name and telephone number.

“From what I understood, he said that he had a piece of land, which he might want to sell,” she said.

She was then asked which words Geadi used in English to tell her about the piece of land, and told the court that she did not remember exactly.

Asked how long she has been in the real estate business, she said she has been working in the industry for many years, “perhaps since 2010”.

She was then asked whether her clients were only Germany or whether she works with people from all over the world and said that she works in a small town in Bavaria where the people speak a dialect of German and many people do not speak English.

“Until now, I have had German clients. I had no reason to speak English,” she said.

Mattheou then told the court that the woman had told Geadi that she was involved in advertising real estate in northern Cyprus, something which the woman denied.

Then, Mattheou asked the woman to “acknowledge a statement that she and her lawyer had given to the police” a few days after her arrest.

That statement, which was written and signed by the woman, read that she had told a man sitting next to her on the aeroplane that she was involved in real estate in Germany and that she advertised properties in northern Cyprus through her website, as well as other properties located in Germany.

The woman replied, saying that she did not say that she was selling properties in northern Cyprus.

“He asked me if I was an estate agent in Cyprus and my answer was no, I do something else. However, I could not explain to him with my English at the time what exactly I meant,” she said.

Mattheou then fired back, telling the woman, “in your statement to the police, you said that through your friends who are in the occupied territories and through the purchase of your apartment in the ‘olive tree project’, you met Ali Kayim, owner of the Kayim group”.

The Kayim group has built a number of projects in and around the Kyrenia district village of Ayios Amvrosios.

“He asked you what you do and when you told him that you are an estate agent in Germany and that you are involved in real estate advertising, photography, promotion on websites and on social media, he asked you if you were interested in collaborating and you agreed to collaborate. Did you say that?” Mattheou asked.

Defence lawyer Sotiris Argyrou then stepped in and objected, saying that the prosecution is attempting to incriminate the accused and is “going beyond the scope of the trial within a trial “.

Mattheou then responded again, saying that the woman is being cross-examined on her previous statements.

However, the court ruled in Argyrou’s favour, agreeing that her line of questioning was not within the scope of the “trial within a trial”, and that the woman’s credibility “cannot be assessed at this stage”.

Unperturbed, Mattheou continued, saying that when the woman was arrested, three articles in English from Forbes magazine were found in her possession.

The woman said she was aware of the content of the articles and that she had informed the police about them, saying that it was Forbes which was advertising property in the north.

She added that the fact she had magazine articles in her possession “does not prove that I could have known exactly what they said”, and said that she knows what the article said in German, as it is available on the internet.

“Today, if you give me this article, I am not in a position to simply translate it into German in its entirety,” she added.

Mattheou then moved on to the matter of the document the woman signed giving consent for the police to search her luggage. The defence has previously argued that a translator who spoke to the woman over the telephone did not adequately inform her about the form’s contents.

In addition, as Mattheou told the court on Friday, the defence has charged that part of the consent form was forged, before asking the woman about the form’s contents.

The woman told the court that after she had spoken with a translator over the phone, a police officer had “indicated where to write what”.

“They told me I had to sign it, because if I didn’t sign it, I wouldn’t be able to proceed. Besides, I didn’t have any drugs or weapons, I didn’t know for what purpose, but I signed it to proceed,” she said.

She added that she did not know who wrote the words “my laggage” [sic] on the form, and that she believes it was added after she had signed it. She said she first saw those words on the form when it was presented as evidence in court.

Mattheou told the court that the translator had translated the form into German for her, and told her that her consent to search her two pieces of luggage was being sought, that she was not obliged to give her consent, that this was fully explained in English on the form, and that she had fully understood what was going on.

The woman denied this, saying that she had not understood what they were asking her to do and that this is why they had called an interpreter.

“I had a short conversation with [the translator] and she only told me that I had to fill out this form. I was not in a position to know exactly where I had to write what,” she said.

Mattheou said the translator had said she had told the woman everything and that she had fully understood everything, and the woman then denied this, saying that she had asked the police to inform her friends who were waiting at the airport in Germany that she had missed her flight, and that she was told to sign the form so she could “move on”.

Then, Mattheou said the bags she had handed over at check-in were searched after the woman gave her consent, but the woman denied this, too, saying that the first suitcase was placed on a table and searched, and that the second suitcase was placed on the table, but the police then quickly closed the case.

“Suddenly, they stopped. They closed it and gave me the consent form to fill out. My refusal, my phone calls, the conversation with a translator followed, and when it was finished, we filled out the form with the help of a police officer, and when I gave it to her, they continued the search of the second suitcase,” she said.

Mattheou then told the court that the police had informed the woman that she had the right to a lawyer and an interpreter, which the woman also denied, saying that the police had called the translator on their own initiative.

She said she had mentioned the word “advocat” to the police and that they had called the translator when she would not sign the consent form.

She also said that when she was in custody, she had received a phone call on her mobile phone, and that the police had “shouted at her to end the call”.

Afterwards, she added, she did not have any phone at her disposal and could not notify anyone about what was happening.

She said the police officers “shouted, spoke in Greek most of the time, were unfriendly, and were sarcastic”.

On this matter, Mattheou said the woman had not asked why she had been arrested, saying that this was “because you understood from the first moment … the reasons and the offences, you fully understood the seriousness of the situation you were in”.

The woman denied this.

The next hearing will take place on June 25, with further hearings scheduled for July 7 and July 9.