Orams hearing comes to an end

British Court concludes two-day hearing on Apostolides vs Orams case

LONDON – The British Court of Appeal concluded on Friday a two-day hearing on a property case, brought before the court by a Greek Cypriot refugee against a British couple who have usurped his property in the northern Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, without issuing its ruling, which will be made known later on.

The case involves Greek Cypriot refugee Meletis Apostolides, who is trying to enforce a Cypriot court ruling in Britain against the Orams couple who have illegally built a home on his land in occupied Cyprus. 

On Thursday and Friday the Court heard the arguments submitted by Orams’ and Apostolides’ lawyers. Orams’ lawyers tried to politicize the case, by claiming that the Cyprus talks would be jeopardized through the application of the European Court of Justice decision on this case. They also claimed that the Greek Chairman of the ECJ Vasilios Skouris was biased because of an alleged affinity with the Republic of Cyprus.

The presiding judge of the Appeal Court, Lord Justice Pill, and the two other judges frequently intervened to question or correct allegations by the Orams’ lawyers, Nicholas Green and Cherie Booth Blair. The Chairman of the Court also instructed the Orams’ lawyers to state the illegality of the so-called state every time they referred to it. 

On his part, Apostolides’ lawyer Tom Beazly said that the legal status quo in Cyprus concerning territory has been the same since 1974, adding that the so called puppet regime in the northern part of the island does not exist.

He also recalled provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and underlined the sovereignty of the Cypriot state. 

The Chairman of the Court did not give any specific date for the announcement of the ruling, noting however that the parties will be informed two days earlier. In the meantime the court may require additional information by the parties. 

The European Court of Justice ruled in April this year that a judgment of a Court in the Republic of Cyprus must be recognized and enforced by the other EU member states even if it concerns land situated in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus. 

The Court’s ruling came after a dispute has arisen before the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, which had requested a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice, between Greek Cypriot refugee Meletis Apostolides, and British couple David and Linda Orams, in relation to the recognition and enforcement of a judgment of the District Court of Nicosia. 

The court in the government controlled southern areas of Cyprus had delivered a judgment ordering the Orams couple to vacate an area of land in the Turkish occupied north and to pay various monetary amounts. 

The British couple had purchased the land from a third party and built a holiday house on it. According to the findings of the court in Cyprus, however, the rightful owner of the land is in fact Apostolides, whose family was forced to leave the north as a result of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the occupation of the island’s northern third.