Being married to a Cypriot national does not automatically confer the right to become a Cypriot citizen, the attorney-general’s office said on Monday following a supreme constitutional court ruling.

The court upheld a ruling by a lower court which denied a foreign national his application to acquire Cypriot citizenship after his marriage to a Cypriot woman.

The court delivered its decision last week.

“The case is of interest, as it confirms the broad discretion of the Republic of Cyprus in registering citizens via marriage,” the AG’s office said.

Previously, the foreign national had petitioned the administrative court to grant him Cypriot citizenship due to his marriage to a Cypriot national.

The administrative court rejected his petition, on the grounds of his history of violence, including domestic violence.

The man subsequently appealed this decision with the supreme constitutional court. The latter found no fault with the administrative court’s ruling.

According to the AG, the supreme constitutional court found that the relevant law (the Civil Registry Law of 2002) does not automatically confer citizenship to foreign nationals, but rather sets out the procedure – under conditions – by which citizenship may be granted.

The final decision to grant citizenship rests with the interior minister, the AG noted.

The supreme constitutional court said that “under international law as well as case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights, designating the requirements for acquisition or loss of citizenship rests with the sovereign authority of each member-state…”

In the case in question, the refusal to register the applicant as a Cypriot citizen was based on “objective and legitimate criteria intended to safeguard the interests of the state, and did not involve discrimination…”