TWICE physically assaulted and hospitalised for 6 days at the hands of Cypriot property developers Christoforos Karayiannas & Son Ltd a British property buyer, Cornelius (Conor) O’Dwyer, is stepping up the pressure on the Cypriot authorities to act.
In an an open letter to President of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetrias Christofias, Mr O’Dwyer announces that he will be mounting an indefinite protest outside the Cyprus High Commission in St James’s Square, London – “Sleeping Rough for Justice”.
In his letter he compares the CID handling of his case with that of the nine British soldiers involved in a bar-brawl in Ayia Napa and brands the Police force and prosecutors in Famagusta as being corrupt and racist.
Open letter to the President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias
Honourable Sir,
Due to the absence of a criminal investigation into the unlawful selling of my house and no sign of a court case against my developer who has assaulted me twice, I have now decided to mount an indefinite protest outside the Cypriot High Commission in London. I will be “Sleeping Rough for Justice” at St. James’s Square beginning Sunday 3rd August. I will be there 24 hours a day, seven days a week until I get justice.
This will be a continuous protest where I will be camping out to draw maximum attention to, not only my plight, but also that of thousands of others. I represent Cypriots and ‘foreigners’ who have bought property in Cyprus from unscrupulous developers and lawyers who act with impunity because they are bolstered by your corrupt authorities.
My campaign is funded by me alone but I hope to sustain my demonstration through donations and advertising on my new website www.ShameOnCyprus.com. Preparations are well under way for my ‘vigil’. Unlike other demonstrations my protest will be strengthened by the use of wireless broadband and solar power technology and I will be broadcasting live over the internet daily.
Viewers will be kept up to date with my progress. I will offer expats and Cypriots alike the opportunity to have their plight registered on my website where I hope to highlight a different case against the property industry in Cyprus every day. I have already helped others recover their life savings but it is time that the British public is made aware of the pitfalls of buying property before setting foot in Cyprus.
In any law-abiding nation at least one of my cases would already be underway. In Cyprus not only does my developer continue without penalty but also no action has been taken against the lawyers who unlawfully sold my house or the lawyer who once represented me and then went on to represent the opposition. Through my demonstration I will be making the Office of Fair Trading and UK Trading Standards aware of the dishonest Cypriot lawyers, estate agents and developers trading within the UK.
I believe my stand at St James’s Square and the website will be a focal point for the ex-pat community who are suffering at the hands of the Cypriot legal system. The British and Cypriot press will be in constant communication throughout and will be invited to join me at my stand as will the many ex-pats escaping the heat and drought this summer. Over the next few months I will be marshalling the support of the ex-pat community in Cyprus to demonstrate for their property rights at their local land registry offices.
I am a British, family man who loved Cyprus enough to want to settle there. Although Cyprus is a war-torn Island my campaign is in no way connected to this issue. I have never been to the “TRNC” or Turkey but comparisons have been drawn into the way I lost my house on a development called “Ayios Sergios”. Ayios Sergios is the name of a village where Greek Cypriots were displaced from their homes in the 1974 invasion. The comparison between Greek Cypriots not allowed to view their homes in the North and the way I was beaten in front of the whole village of Frenaros for just looking at my house from the road is obvious. No one in Frenaros came to my aid or stepped forward as a witness. This was the village in which my daughters were to go to school.
I have been assaulted twice by my developers; both incidents were captured on camera. The evidence from the first assault in 2006 has still not been presented in court. Lack of legal action gave the developers free licence to assault me more aggressively in January 2008, where I was hospitalised for six days.
Two weeks later a bar-brawl involving 9 British soldiers took place in Ayia Napa. That case investigated by the same CID branch has already come to court and a bar owner is seeking £4 million pounds from the British Government and the soldiers face a 3 – 5 year jail term. The nine accused have not been allowed home whereas my developer’s actions are condoned by the industry bodies and estate agents who still have them on their books. I have had no confirmation of an indictment let alone a court date for any of my cases going back over 2 years.
I will broadcast onto the internet the recordings of the way I was treated by your Police officers who refused to charge the perpetrators according to the law and let the video evidence slip into the crowd. I will also show video of how the perpetrators were shouting at the Police to recover the evidence from a friend of mine that escaped by car. I will continue to exhaust the due legal process and also write my letters to the European Courts but now from St James’s Square.
I loved the Republic of Cyprus that’s why I chose to raise my family and start a business there. I thought I was safe buying within the EU. I have learnt the hard way that the Republic does not respect its own laws never mind the EU constitution. I have learnt that nepotism and corruption is rife on what is fast becoming known as an “Island of Fraud”.
The Police force and prosecutors in Famagusta are corrupt and racist. My lawyer has had all pleas for justice and an investigation ignored. When I get a court date in the Republic I will have to make my first trip to the North to stay and secure my safety. I suggest that it is in the Republic’s interest that my security next month outside the High Commission is guaranteed. I am of course in talks with the Metropolitan Police.
This is my family’s story of buying property in Cyprus (SHAME ON CYPRUS!!)
Cornelius (Conor) O’Dwyer
www.ShameOnCyprus.comFurther details and correspondence of what has brought me to this action can be obtained from my lawyer Yiannos G. Georgiades of Georgiades & Mylonas, Nicosia or my original website www.lyingbuilder.com
Copy to: The Cypriot High Commissioner – London, Attorney-General of the Republic, The Chief of Police, the Cyprus Bar Association, The Minister of Justice, Minister of Interior, Cyprus Tourism Organisation, District Administration Offices, Minister of Finance, Accountant General, Department of Information Technology Services, Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), British High Commission Nicosia, Jim Murphy Minister for Europe and South East UK MEP’s.
