Loucaides stands down to take up top Euro job

DEPUTY Attorney-general Loucis Loucaides yesterday ended his 35-year career in the Cyprus legal service to become a permanent judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

With his new appointment effective from November 1, Loucaides visited the Presidential Palace yesterday to submit his resignation in writing to President Clerides.

“I handed the president my resignation in writing and he wished me good luck in my new job,” Loucaides said afterwards.

Clerides has yet to appoint his successor.

Loucaides spent 23 years as deputy Attorney-general and has always been an outspoken advocate of human rights. He voted against Cyprus in the landmark Modinos gay rights case at the European Court of Human Rights in 1993.

That ruling paved the way to the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults last May.

Under the terms of his new appointment, Loucaides will become a full-time judge and will take up residence in Strasbourg.

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.