French court rejects Cyprus’ appeal against refusal to extradite man accused of developing property in north

The French court of cassation has rejected the Republic of Cyprus’ appeal against a lower court’s rejection of an extradition request regarding a man whom the Cypriot government accuses of developing property on land in the north owned by Greek Cypriots without their consent.

The decision upholds a ruling made by the city of Aix-en-Provence’s court of appeal last month, which rejected the request on the basis that given that the European Union’s acquis communautaire is suspended in the north, it cannot be applied there.

As such, it stated, the courts of the Republic of Cyprus are not in a position to enforce laws in a territory over which it does not exercise control, with the result that the man, 39-year-old Behdad Jafari, was not extradited.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman reacted to the ruling on Thursday, stating that “we have finally reached the desired outcome in France”.

“As we have always said, the property issue in Cyprus is one of the six titles of the chapters for negotiations towards a comprehensive solution. The Immovable Property Commission is also an effective domestic legal remedy established to evaluate claims regarding property rights,” he said.

To this end, he pointed out that the IPC was recognised as an effective domestic remedy by the European Court of Human Rights, before criticising the Republic of Cyprus’ pursuit of criminal charges against individuals whom it accuses of developing property on land in the north.

“It is absolutely wrong to try to make individuals pay the price for the problems arising from a lack of a solution, and to treat the property issue, which is part of the Cyprus problem, as if it were a problem stemming from individuals’ actions and transactions,” he said.

He added that his “wish” going forward is that “in the coming period, such approaches which negatively affect the much-needed climate for a solution will not be exhibited and will be replaced by confidence-building and solution-oriented approaches”.

Jafari had already returned from France to the north, where he lives, via Istanbul following December’s ruling, having been arrested at Nice airport in October after arriving on an inbound flight from Istanbul.

He is the owner of a construction company by the name of Isatis, which was founded in 2015, and which over the last decade has carried out various construction projects, primarily in and around the Famagusta district village of Ayios Sergios, but also in and around Trikomo and the Famagusta district village of Akanthou, among other locations.

Jafari is Iranian by birth and was naturalised as a citizen of the ‘TRNC’ in May 2023, on the same day as Fatih Buyuktopcu, the owner of newspaper Kibris.

He had obtained a multiple entry visa to visit France on July 25 from the country’s embassy in Ankara, using his Iranian passport, with that visa having been set to expire next week.