JUST 16 working days after the Supreme Court heard British man Conor O’Dwyer’s appeal against the 2012 ruling of the case filed by property development company Christoforos Karayiannas and Son Ltd in 2006, he was in Court this morning to hear from the judge that his appeal had been rejected.
Given the complexity of the case and the volume of evidence to be reviewed, which dates back over more than a decade, it was considered that it would take the judge much longer to arrive at a decision. The judicial system in Cyprus is notoriously slow.
During this morning’s brief court hearing the judge delivered the verdict and handed the 35-page judgement to Mr O’Dwyer’s lawyer; the full judgement was not read to those present in court.
Mr O’Dwyer will continue his fight for justice and plans to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
I spoke with Mr O’Dwyer’s lawyer, Yiannos Georgiades, for his thoughts on the ruling of the Supreme Court. He said that he was very disappointed with the handling of the case; he believes there are grounds for proceeding with the ECHR for the infringements of Conor’s right to a fair trial and his right to freedom of speech. (These rights are guaranteed by Article 6 and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.)
The people who are clearly in the wrong have been rewarded for their wrong-doings. They were convicted of assault (twice) but haven’t gone to prison, despite selling his house unlawfully they’ve been allowed to keep Conor’s money. But the court failed to compensate Conor the full amount because they awarded the other side damages of €60,000 by penalising him for defamation because he dared to call the wrong-doers ‘liars’ and ‘crooks’ on his website.
It’s appalling. It’s as if they were rewarding the wrong-doers!
Mr Georgiades explained the ECHR has ruled that consumers should be free to express their opinion and complain about the way they’ve been treated by a company, even if they use strong and insulting words. The right to protect one’s reputation gives way to one’s right to free of speech as it’s in the public interest for an individual to freely express their opinion about the way they’ve been treated.
What message is this giving to people who come to our country to buy property or invest? If they’re unlucky enough to have a dispute, it will drag on for 14 years – and if they dare to complain about what’s happened to them, they will run the risk of being penalised and end up paying a fortune to the people who wronged them!
The Supreme Court judgement tells it all about cyprus I believe 2013 will repeat it self to much greed and corruption in this country and no justice I hope he get justice with the European Court
We have learnt the hard way, buying a property in Cyprus 12 years ago. Still fighting our battle with the greedy bank, always want more. Very corrupt and dishonest organisation ,the EU need to address this problem and put right the injustice for people over many years. No justice for connor or anyone else .
Only in Japan does the Cypriot “justice” system look normal. Justice stands for JustUs, i.e., the rich and well connected. Damnation for the rest.
This has nothing to do with justice. Only the Banks / Developers / Lawyers / Politicians (who are usually lawyers) have constitutional and human rights and the scales are quite clearly tipped in their favour. I am afraid that anyone who has already been stung has, has Gavin Jones says, no chance, but anyone thinking about moving into the Cyprus Property Market should think twice. You will be signing up for a lifetime of misery.
Poor Connor. He must be gutted and there is a two / three year wait for the CJEU. It is unlikely he will recoup his losses (if he has enough resources to continue the quest) and he will never get back those lost years. The Cyprus courts pay no heed to the settled case law of the CJEU. If he wins, there’s no guarantee the government will pay up (because no one else appears to).
Send your complaints to the EU commission which is allegedly still in the throes of infringement proceedings against Cyprus for consumer abuse. It may not help, but it will continue to keep these concerns uppermost.
It’s around 40 years I/family (Austrian/Lebanese) have put foot on the Island, bought a humble cottage and encountered multiple occasions of crookery over the years.
Although having made friends with a few real nice Cypriots…
No way!
I give up! ….
Compared to Lebanon, no difference BUT Cyprus fits perfectly into the European Union!!!
PITY THIS LOVELY ISLAND !
The Cypriot Pick & Mix Injustice system has been in action again in all its glory.
It’s totally pointless for any foreigner to waste his or her time expecting any real justice from the joke of a justice system in the septic isle, since they look after their own elite parasites, first and foremost.
The EHCR will no doubt throw out the incredibly erroneous judgments and decisions of the hillbilly quacks that pretend to practice justice in Cyproos.
Whatever the final outcome l think the handling of Conor O’Dwyer’s case sums up all that is wrong with the Cypriot Court System.
Foreigners don’t stand a chance in getting justice, especially when in dispute with the banks, as a decision made against them would no doubt create a further economic crisis.
Article 6 also states “everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time”!
I understand, the ECHR will end the case in favour for Conor O’Dwyer (and prove jurisdiction in Cyprus is a farce)
They are selling my property at the auction on 30 march 2020 with out my consent, that i bought 2005 for £55.000 Cypriot pounds and paid the rent for 12 years that i collected from the tenants i was not able to pay the extra when it when up ,At the time when i took out the loan they offered me a Japanese yen or a Swiss frank, they said is a cheap and affordable payments they did not fix the loan ,or explain to me the short falls then little while later my mortgage when up by 50% i said why has my mortgage gone up so much they said because you had a Japanese loan ,In the last three years till present my lawyer advise me not to pay until the government and banks sort things out with the loans situation now they say i owe them 176.000 euros i am 65 years old what bank of Cyprus did was wrong i would have paid of that flat,now they are action it off new government rules for 68.000 euros with out even me having a say anything at the court to have my say wheres is the justice, and how i am going to pay of the outstanding money i have two young children under 17 years old i am Greek Cypriot this realy saddens my heart
The Cypriot (in)justice system is akin to that of a banana republic and bears no relation to the workings of a Western state.
Those who venture into the realms of the Cypriot legal quagmire would do well to heed the iconic quote in Dante’s Divine Comedy:
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” In short, you have absolutely no chance of obtaining justice however watertight you believe your case to be.
I had a girlfriend like a Cypriot Lawyer, she used to tell me “what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is my own”
This case is appalling, no reasoning with the authorities in this Island. Good luck with the ECHR.
So much for the Cyprus Law