A RUSSIAN woman was yesterday charged in a Nicosia Court with illegally purchasing a Greek Cypriot property in the Turkish occupied north of the island.
 

Elena Merkushova, 30, was arrested at the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia last Sunday, along with her husband, after customs officers discovered a title deed and contract of purchase for a property in the occupied area of Lapithos.

According to police, Merkushova paid around £18,000 for the house, which is built on land belonging to four Greek Cypriot refugees who fled to the south in 1974. Yesterday, she pleaded not guilty to the two charges against her. If found guilty of the charge, under a law passed on October 20 this year, Merkushova could face up to seven years’ imprisonment.

Police have also issued an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Bulet Fikri – who they say illegally sold the property to Merkushova – but his arrest is considered unlikely as he is believed to be in the north.

According to the indictment, Merkushova is a company owner visiting the island as a tourist and staying at a hotel in Limassol.

She arrived on the island on November 3 and had been issued a visitor’s permit as a tourist until May 4, 2007.

The first charge stated that on November 18, 2006 in Kyrenia, the defendants conspired between themselves to commit a crime, in other words, to commit the offences allegedly committed in charges two and three.

The second charge stated at the same date and place, Merkushova purchased from Fikri a property that belonged to somebody else, which was being built in the Ayios Theodoros area of Lapithos. The property is being built over two plots, one which belongs to Panayiota Grigoris Polydorou and one which is shared between Theodora Antonis Polycarpou, Marios Antonis Polycarpou and Andreas Antonis Polycarpou.
 

The charge said the accused had signed a document of purchase, dated November 18, 2006, but should have known that there was no consent from the rightful owners. The third charge outlines the same offence but implicates Fikri as the illegal seller.
Yesterday, State Prosecutor Marios Koutsoftas requested that the defendant be held in custody for the duration of her trial, a request denied by Judge Lemonia Kaoutzani.
 

Koutsoftas claimed that the seriousness of the offence and the defendant’s ties to the north made it highly likely that she could escape to the occupied north. Countering the prosecution’s claim, defence lawyer Nicholas Poumbourides said his client had an 18-month-old baby back in Russia and that keeping her in prison would have a negative psychological effect on the mother.

He added Merkushova had a clean record, was in Cyprus legally and had shown absolutely no indication that she would not appear for her next trial date.

Agreeing with the defence, Judge Kaoutzani ordered the defendant to pay a £50,000 guarantee, with two guarantors, that she would turn up for her trial date, to hand over her passport and any other travel documents she may have to the police and for her name to placed on the stop list of all airports, ports and checkpoints throughout the island. She also ordered Merkushova to report to a Limassol police station every afternoon. The trial begins on December 15.