Israelis decide against appeal

TWO Israelis jailed for approaching restricted military areas in Cyprus will not appeal against their three-year sentence, their lawyer said yesterday.

“Although I consider the sentence severe this does not justify filing an appeal,” lawyer Antis Triantafyllides told Reuters news agency.

Igal Damary, 49, and Udi Hargov, 37, were jailed last week after they pleaded guilty to approaching restricted military areas at Zygi on November 6.

Prosecutors struck a plea bargain with their lawyers and agreed to drop charges of spying, which the two had denied.

Triantafyllides said he could not appeal against the sentencing because the court had, he said, correctly laid out all the facts and legal arguments in summing up its verdict.

He said the two men had agreed with him not to lodge an appeal.

Asked if he would apply for a presidential pardon, Triantafyllides said: “Not now… that is something we will consider later.”

During the trial the Israelis’ lawyers said the two belonged to an anti- terrorist squad and that they had come to Cyprus for a meeting with other intelligence agents.

Police said their suspicions were roused after they saw the two loitering close to a port area where military equipment was being delivered.

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.