By a Staff Reporter
THE TURKISH Cypriot regime yesterday released 21 Greek Cypriots who were detained on Thursday for various reasons, including allegedly trying to return the bell of a church to the government controlled areas.
The first group consisted of 21 men, women and children aged between five and 76 years who crossed over into the occupied north from a non-designated point.
Police said the group, travelling in four vehicles went through from the area between Pergamos and Achna, near the church of Ayios Ionas.
They were immediately seized by Turkish soldiers who subsequently released an elderly woman and four children.
The rest were brought before a military court and were made to sign a £3,000 guarantee to be paid if they repeat the ‘offence’ within one year.
Three other men, who allegedly tried to carry the bell of their occupied village’s church to the government controlled areas were yesterday released after posting £300 bail to be summoned to ‘court’ later.
One of the men assured that he would not appear for the ‘hearing’.
The three, along with three women and a child, were detained on Thursday after allegedly attempting to recover the bell.
Police said the group had visited their village of Spathariko in the occupied areas and saw their church had been turned into a mosque, like most churches in the occupied north.
They found the bell in an adjacent storage room and allegedly tried to load it on their cars.
They were seen by the Muslim cleric who asked them to leave the bell where it was.
They did, but on their way back they were detained at the Strovilia checkpoint in the Famagusta district.
The three women and child were released while the men were kept overnight.
Two youths were also fined £40 for failing to buy insurance at the Strovilia checkpoint.
Polis Michaelides, 22, from Nicosia and 23-year-old Maria Pavli from Paralimni were brought before a ‘court’ in Famagusta for failing to get a visa.
The two youths told the Cyprus Mail that officers at the British bases in the area had told them to go ahead and it was okay.
They were caught just a few metres from the checkpoint and taken to holding cells in Famagusta where they spent the night.
The youths were made to pay a £40 for not buying insurance and were released with no further penalties.
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.
