The legal service is yet to receive a request to close the case against Turkish Cypriot former MEP candidate Oz Karahan for unfurling a banner at Cyprus’ independence day parade, Attorney-General George Savvides said on Thursday.
Savvides was asked about the possibility of closing the case against Karahan given that he “was one of those who publicly gave information” about the construction of buildings on Greek Cypriot-owned land in the north.
“Such a request has not come, at least to me personally, but when it comes or if it comes and it is handled by someone else in the legal service, I am sure it will be handled accordingly, based on the criteria for handling such requests,” he said.
Karahan and former Sigma TV journalist Giorgos Tattis were arrested on October 1 after unfurling a banner which read “Republic of Cyprus: the only solution” at the parade, with reports suggesting that the pair unfurled the banner before being informed by police that displaying banners with political content at the parade is prohibited.
However, they reportedly refused to take the banner down, and as such were arrested.
The police had said on October 1 that they had approached the pair, and that one of them had “reacted by abusing police officers
He was arrested, and the second of the pair, who was reportedly also “causing concern and abusing police officers”.
Additionally, the police said, both resisted arrest, and were both thus re-arrested. One of the pair was also arrested for assaulting a police officer.
On October 2, the pair appeared in court, with their next hearing currently scheduled for November 18.
The banner had been visible on social media in the days preceding October 1, with Karahan having shared an image resembling it on his social media campaign alongside a link to a petition created by the “pan-Cyprian mobilisation for the freedom of Cyprus”.
The petition demands a solution to the Cyprus problem through various means, including “initiating a global boycott and sanction campaign against Turkey for its war crimes and violations of human rights in Cyprus”.
Green Party leader Giorgos Perdikis reacted furiously to the two activists’ arrest, declaring it a “bad start” for the Republic of Cyprus’ new chief of police and deputy, who were both sworn in the day before the parade took place.
“I charge the police with excessive strictness, for a matter about which they should not have been so strict and aggressive. And it is still aggressive,” he said.
“The police of Christodoulides not only arrested the two persons, but took them to the station in handcuffs, where they were interrogated as common criminals,” he said, adding that this constitutes a “bad omen” for new police chief Themis Arnaoutis’ tenure.
