The Nicosia Assize Court ruled on Friday that property developer Simon Aykut, a person of Israeli, Portuguese and Turkish citizenship, must serve an immediate five-year prison sentence, for offenses related to the usurpation of real estate of Greek Cypriot refugee-owners in the Turkish occupied territories of Cyprus.
On October 24, 2025, the Assize Court of Nicosia imposed an immediate five-year prison sentence, to be served concurrently, for each of the 40 counts of fraudulent transaction in which the person was found guilty following an admission of guilt during an intermediate hearing, for offenses related to the usurpation of real estate of Greek Cypriot refugee-owners in the occupied territories.
The convicted has actively participated in the ‘Afik’ group that operated in the Turkish-occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus between 2014 and 2024, constructing and offering for sale residential units in six tourist complexes, on plots of land belonging to Greek Cypriot refugees, without direct or indirect consent for the use and exploitation of the land by the legal owners.
In total, 40 plots of land, worth approximately pound 38.9 million and with a total area of 394,969 sq m, were used illegally.
The Law Office of the Republic says in a press release that the crime of fraudulent transactions in real estate, of which the defendant was found guilty, upon his own admission, is a very serious one, since it contains the element of deceiving other persons, in order to serve selfish purposes, undermining financial transactions.
The Court, citing the rich case law of the Courts of the Republic and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, ruled among others that the defendant’s actions constituted a serious violation of the rights of the legal owners and reinforce illegal acts committed in the Turkish-occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus. Such crimes are showing an alarming increase and require deterrent sentences, the Court stressed.
The Court’s long decision was read out by President of the three-member Court, Christiana Parpotta, who said that based on article 117 of Chapter 155, the sentences are valid from 19.06.2024.
She noted that the accused was also facing a number of other charges, which, however, after his admission to the charges mentioned above, were suspended by the Attorney General.
Parpotta also referred to the risk of creating further illegal faits accomplis on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, in relation to the property rights of displaced persons.
She pointed out that offences of this nature, against properties belonging to Cypriots, displaced persons, have unfortunately taken on worrying proportions in recent years. She noted that the Courts, which are the guardians of legality, must deal with the perpetrators by imposing strict, deterrent sentences.
The Courts, she said, must, with the penalties they impose, assist the state in its efforts to stop such actions, with the aim of protecting the property rights of citizens.
She noted that the increase of such offenses, but especially offenses involving fraudulent transactions in relation to real estate belonging to another person, and which is located in areas not controlled by the Republic, is an additional reason, which, combined with their seriousness, requires them to be dealt with with deterrent penalties, she stressed.
The Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state since 2024, is divided following the Turkish invasion of 1974.