Man held after immigration tussle

A 27-YEAR-old father of two tussled with policemen yesterday after his Bulgarian girlfriend was refused entry into Cyprus, a Larnaca court was told.

Christakis Constantinou, originally from occupied Voni and estranged from his wife, had intended to spend the holiday with his Bulgarian girlfriend in Cyprus and then leave the island with her. He was accompanied to Larnaca airport arrival lounge by a policeman early yesterday morning to meet her after her arrival from Sofia.

Immigration officials, however, did not approve her entry to the island and ordered her immediate deportation. Furious at immigration’s refusal to let her in, Constantinou allegedly attacked the policeman keeping her under guard, Loucas Louca, as well as the policeman who was accompanying him. Louca suffered actual bodily harm and Constantinou was placed under arrest.

Appearing before Larnaca district court later in the day, Constantinou said Louca had pushed him and that he too had been hurt.

“I wanted to see her for the last time but they wouldn’t let me,” he said.

Louca maintained that he tried to remove Constantinou from the arrivals lounge in a peaceful way, but claimed Constantinou had not co-operated and had started a fight.

Constantinou has been remanded in custody for two days while police investigate the matter further.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.