As Cihan News Agency reports, the couple was arrested on suspicion of real estate fraud. According to police, the wife, a Russian citizen, and the husband, a Latvian citizen, whose names are not disclosed, presented Russian Federation passports when detained. Both also hold EU citizenship. They were taken to the Cypriot capital Nicosia, where they were charged with illegally building a house on land belonging to a Greek Cypriot. According to documents found during a search, the defendants paid €70,000 for the plot. According to Cyprus Mail, the couple has been taken into custody for further proceedings. What exactly they face – a fine, confiscation of property, or imprisonment – is not yet clear.
According to foreign press, the new law on criminal liability for acquiring land in the northern part of Cyprus is another way for the Greek authorities to fight the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). In his speech, Sofokleous emphasized that the authorities will also bring criminal charges against Turkish Cypriots living on land belonging to Greeks.
The island of Cyprus was divided by barbed wire into Turkish and Greek parts in 1974, when after the Turkish invasion the TRNC was formed. The republic is not shown on any world map and is not recognized by any state except Turkey, which, however, does not prevent its authorities from registering marriages, births, deaths, and conducting purchase and sale transactions. What is mainly sold in Northern Cyprus is real estate of Greek Cypriots, who owned 80% of the land before the occupation.
"Buying land and houses in Northern Cyprus is a great temptation," said a company that sells villas in the northern part of the island. "Real estate prices here are at least 3-4 times lower than in Southern Cyprus." However, at present, most real estate agencies do not deal with Northern Cyprus at all, as they consider these transactions illegal. "The issue of territorial ownership of the lands has not yet been resolved at the political level, so buying land there is fraught with big trouble," said a manager of a real estate company. "It is unlikely that the detained Russians did not know that they were breaking the law: such deals are not made blindly."
Indeed, the authorities of the Greek part of the island have been claiming for several years that the properties put up for sale have legal owners and can be reclaimed through the courts at any time. The first precedents for returning housing purchased in the TRNC occurred in 2004, when Northern Cyprus introduced a visa-free regime for Greek Cypriots. Learning the names and addresses of the new homeowners (85% of them British), the former owners began to sue the foreigners to reclaim property abandoned 30 years ago.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry, like the authorities of other countries, has long received warnings about the danger of such deals," Gazeta.Ru was told at the Cypriot embassy in Moscow. "As far as we know, the ministry has repeatedly warned its citizens that any documents issued by the TRNC authorities are invalid in the Russian Federation."
However, the situation with the arrested couple is the first case of official charges against Russian citizens for purchasing illegal real estate in Cyprus. Previously, no complaints from Greek Cypriots against Russians had been received. The Cypriot embassy in Moscow explains this by "the private nature of the transactions."