Ukrainian national pleads guilty to advertising Greek Cypriot-owned property in north

A 41-year-old Ukrainian national on Monday pleaded guilty to advertising and promoting the sale of property in the north which prior to 1974 belonged to Greek Cypriots.

The man, named as estate agent Denys Pohodin, advertised properties in the Famagusta district villages of Ayios Sergios, Gastria, and Akanthou, in the Kyrenia district villages of Kalogria and Ayios Amvrosios, and in Trikomo.

He pleaded guilty to 18 of the 36 charges he faces.

The case’s next hearing will take place on May 11, with it expected that the remaining 18 charges will be suspended.

The man had been arrested at Larnaca airport in March last year and has remained in custody ever since.

His guilty plea comes with the Republic of Cyprus having doubled its efforts in recent years to prosecute those whom it accuses of illegally advertising the sale of and erecting building on Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north.

The most high-profile of the three was Israeli property developer Simon Aykut, who was in October last year sentenced to five years in jail after having pled guilty to a total of 40 of the charges he faced related to the development and sale of Greek Cypriot property in the north.

He was sent to Israel last week to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

In May last year, two Hungarian women were sentenced to two and a half years and 15 months in prison respectively after advertising the sale of houses in the north on their social media accounts and websites.

More recently, the Republic of Cyprus failed to secure the extradition of 39-year-old Iranian national Behdad Jafari, who was arrested upon his arrival at Nice airport last year, but then later released after a French court found that given that the European Union’s acquis communautaire is suspended in the north, it cannot be applied there.

A number of cases are ongoing, too, with a German woman who 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 remaining in custody.