President approves release of Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz from prison

President Nikos Christodoulides has approved the release from prison of Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz, concluding nearly three years of detention linked to his extradition and conviction in Germany.

According to local media sources, the release request was signed by the president on Friday.

Ayaz, who had returned to Cyprus in 2025 to serve the remainder of his sentence, is expected to be freed following the completion of the relevant administrative procedures.

Ayaz was arrested at Larnaca airport in March 2023 after Germany issued a European arrest warrant against him.

He was extradited later that year and, in September 2024, a German court sentenced him to four years and three months in prison for alleged membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a charge he has consistently denied.

Rights groups and supporters have described the prosecution as politically motivated, stressing that the conviction was not based on acts of violence.

Ayaz was detained in Germany for more than two years before being transferred back to Cyprus to serve the remaining part of his sentence after German authorities agreed to its recognition by the Cypriot courts.

Public campaigns calling for his release intensified over the past year, with demonstrations and statements highlighting his previous status as a recognised refugee in Cyprus and his long association with political activism focused on Kurdish rights.

An observatory monitoring his case had repeatedly argued that the offences for which Ayaz was convicted in Germany did not constitute criminal offences under Cypriot law.

“Every day that Kenan Ayaz remains in prison places a moral burden on the Republic,” observatory representatives said during a press conference in Nicosia last year, warning that continued detention risked legitimising what they described as political persecution.

Ayaz’s lawyer, Efstathios Efstathiou, has said the German conviction rested largely on his client’s participation in peaceful demonstrations and cultural events.

“There is no allegation of violence or involvement in criminal activity,” he said, adding that such activities were protected by the European convention on human rights.

Efstathiou confirmed that an appeal against the conviction was lodged with the European court of human rights in October 2025, describing the case as “a politically motivated prosecution”.

He argued that even the German court acknowledged the legality of the events Ayaz attended, but treated them as criminal because of their political context.

Akel MP Giorgos Koukoumas described the case as “outrageous”, saying the Cyprus should not have executed the European arrest warrant.

“EU member states are obliged to refuse such warrants where there is a risk of persecution on political grounds,” he said.

Former Ecologists leader George Perdikis similarly called for Ayaz’s immediate release, arguing that Cyprus had sent him to face trial abroad despite the absence of any offence under domestic law.

Ayaz had lived in Cyprus for more than a decade before his arrest, having been granted refugee status after earlier periods of detention in Turkey.

Supporters have frequently pointed to his public statements linking the Kurdish struggle with what he described as Cyprus’ “own experience of division and occupation”.

Following his return to Cyprus in September 2025, the observatory in his case said he would continue his legal fight from the island.

“He returned to continue his struggle for a world without oppression and occupation,” it said, describing his detention in Germany as involving harsh conditions.

The PKK has been listed as a terrorist organisation in the European Union since 2002, a designation repeatedly upheld by European courts.

Turkey has long considered the group a major security threat.

In 2025, however, the PKK announced it would lay down its arms and end its armed campaign, a move welcomed by international actors as a step towards de-escalation.

Despite this development, supporters argued that Ayaz’s conviction reflected earlier political dynamics rather than any present security risk.

“His fate remained up in the air even as his release date approached,” observatory member Alekos Michaelides said previously, warning against delays that would “effectively acknowledge” the German ruling.

President Christodoulides’ decision to approve the release request was welcomed by campaigners as a corrective step.