Government challenges legal action over S-300s

THE GOVERNMENT is challenging a one-man campaign to declare the controversial decision not to bring the S-300 missiles unconstitutional.

Nicosia resident Andreas Efthimiou recently lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court, claiming President Clerides’ decision to redirect the Russian-made missiles to Crete was illegal because only the cabinet had the authority to take such a decision.

When Clerides announced the redirection on December 29 last year, he made it clear it was his own decision.

In a injunction against Efthimiou’s appeal lodged with the Supreme Court on Wednesday last week, and publicised yesterday, the Attorney-general’s office dismisses the plaintiff’s claims as baseless.

“Taking the decision was within his (the President’s) remit of authority as provided for in the constitution,” state attorney Yiota Kyriakidou states in the injunction application.

“The decision was in keeping with principles of good government, the law, and constitutional provisions,” the application reads.

The unpopular decision not to bring the £200 million ground-to-air missiles came after months of pressure from the US, UN and EU, who feared deployment might spark a Greco-Turkish war. Turkey had threatened to strike the S-300s if they were deployed in Cyprus.

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.