The Supreme Court has ruled that the arrest of a man accused of espionage was legally justified, confirming the legality of the search conducted in his apartment.
- The Supreme Court has ruled that the arrest of a man accused of espionage was legally justified, confirming the legality of the search conducted in his apartment.
The ruling came on Thursday following arguments from the man’s lawyer, Efstathios Efstathiou, who contended that the warrants for the arrest and search were based on unverified and undocumented information. This information was reportedly sourced from a country outside the European Union, understood to be Israel.
Efstathiou highlighted a “fundamental error” made by the Limassol district court, asserting that relying on unverifiable information from a third country was not permissible for an EU member state. He argued that the lack of evidence to objectively assess the reliability of the information constituted a significant flaw in the district court’s decision.
He also pointed out that the so-called confirmation of the information through physical surveillance by Cypriot authorities was flawed, describing it as “circular logic” limited to superficial observations.
However, the Supreme Court disagreed, stating that the information received by Cypriot authorities was not general or vague. The court confirmed that the information from abroad had been corroborated through physical monitoring of the suspect over a specific period.
In its ruling, the court deemed the police’s suspicions as “entirely reasonable.” It noted concerns regarding the man’s potential to escape from Cyprus and the risk of interference with the justice system, including the possibility of evidence destruction.
The suspect allegedly conducted surveillance on both the British Royal Air Force’s base at Akrotiri and the national guard’s Andreas Papandreou airbase in Paphos. His arrest occurred in June, during a period of heightened tension in the region.
On the day of the arrest, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated on social media that a planned attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard on Israeli citizens had been thwarted due to cooperation between Cypriot and Israeli authorities. He expressed gratitude to Cyprus for its swift actions in preventing the attack.
Luke Pollard, the UK’s Business Secretary parliamentary under-secretary of state for the armed forces, also commented on the situation, emphasising the importance of protecting the UK’s sovereign base areas in Cyprus from potential Iranian retaliation. He noted that enhanced force protection measures were being implemented, including the deployment of Typhoon fighter jets at RAF Akrotiri.
This incident unfolded amidst ongoing missile exchanges between Israel and Iran, leading to a ceasefire later that month. Reports indicated that the US might seek permission from the UK to station aircraft in Cyprus in response to the heightened tensions.
At the peak of the conflict, the UK deployed approximately 14 Typhoon fighter jets to Akrotiri, with comments from Foreign Secretary David Lammy underscoring the strategic significance of the UK’s bases in Cyprus during this volatile period.
