Cyta clients sue over privacy violations

TWO CYTA subscribers have filed separate lawsuits in the Limassol District Court yesterday, alleging the company has been secretly monitoring their mobile phone calls and text messages. They are seeking compensation of up to €100,000.

Limassol law firm Kostas Melas and Associates is representing the two subscribers, a young man working in the National Guard and his father-in-law, who works with the coast guard.

The two men allege in their lawsuit that they were told in 2007 by a government-appointed criminal investigator that they were under surveillance.

“Since there was evidence that their calls had been monitored, the criminal investigator was obliged to investigate the case and take statements from the victims in order to have his conclusion,” said Melas in an email to the Cyprus Mail.

Cyta allegedly monitored their incoming and outgoing calls between April and May of 2005, recording the caller, calling area, date, and duration of each of the calls, as well as the addresses and fixed phone numbers associated with the mobile phones numbers calling the two men. Text messages sent to the two subscribers were also monitored.

Cyta Spokeswoman Sophia Yiannakou told the Mail that the company had nothing to say regarding the lawsuits.

“It is not that Cyta has no comment, it is that this is in the hands of our lawyers and they are dealing with their lawyers,” she said, adding that Cyta’s lawyers also had nothing to say on the matter.

The consequences of the allegations are grave, according to Melas.

“Monitoring their calls caused violations of substantive human rights which are protected by the Constitution (articles 15 and 17) and the European Convention of Human Rights,” he said. “We are praying for compensation for the above violations.”

Melas added he expects at least one of the lawsuits to wrap up by the end of the year. The first hearing is set for May.

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.