A 26-year-old man sentenced to 14 years in prison for possession of over 32kg of cannabis saw his appeal rejected on May 29, with the appeals court pointing out that the sentence was not excessive but actually quite lenient given the quantity of drugs and the role the appellant played in the case.

It was made public on Wednesday that the appeals court dismissed all three arguments in the appeal and upheld the initial sentence passed by the Limassol criminal court in full.

The case concerned two individuals who admitted to conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal possession of cannabis and drug trafficking. All offences had been committed in early 2023 in Limassol and had been uncovered during a police drug squad operation.

The police had found 25.8kg of cannabis and 6.46kg of cannabis resin.

Both defendants had been sentenced to 14 years in prison each.

The appellant, who was the second defendant in the case, presented three main reasons to appeal. He said the criminal court had not taken into account that the drugs had been found in the first defendant’s flat and storage facility, that it had not considered his young age and that 14 years was an excessive sentence.

However, the appeals court deemed that the conclusions of the court of first instance were fully justified and that both defendants had played a significant role towards personal gain.

It also said the appellant was well aware of the nature and scale of the illegal activity.

As regards his young age, the appeals court said it had already been taken into account by the criminal court, along with the necessity of imposing strict penalties as a deterrent due to the “disastrous consequences” of such behaviour.

“The wretchedness of the victims, as well as the loss of lives, mainly of young people, requires the drastic intervention and participation of the judiciary in the universal effort to curb the modern scourge of drugs,” the appeals court said.