BRITISH businessman Graham Cockroft, who was thrown out of Cyprus in 2001, was legally deported, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Cockroft, 56, ran a Cyprus-based company Rockpool Homes Ltd in a joint venture with Cypriot partners in Pissouri to build solar-powered houses; he was deported in August 2001, with only the clothes on his back.
He later filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, which, has now ruled his deportation was legal. Cockroft always claimed he did not know why he was deported, but claimed local competition had pulled strings to have him thrown out of the country after 10 years on the island. He said no one told him or his lawyer why he was deported other than mentioning vague allegations that he was involved in property deals in the Turkish-occupied north of the island.
But according to the authorities, Cockroft was living in Cyprus without permission and was exercising a profession without a permit. He was also accused of having a website advertising not only holidays in occupied areas but also the sale of immovable property there.
Commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision, Cockroft claimed yesterday he had been deported for having a web page.
“I was arrested, jailed, assaulted, kept outside in freezing conditions, twice. for having a web page. I had no trial and no opportunity to defend myself,” he said. He said he would be taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
“The repercussions of the Cyprus Department of Immigration’s actions have caused my Cypriot partner to be in court for bankruptcy. My other Cypriot partner had a heart attack through the strain and I’m next for both, as it resulted in the closure of our joint business, resulting in massive debt for all three of us.”
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.
