bill cobbett wrote:It looks like the European Commission did try to exert pressure on the ECJ to defer its ruling in the Orams case pending the "negotiations" .
The following is from the Cyprus Weekly...
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Commission tried to block Orams ruling
By Philippos Stylianou
The European Commission tried to get the European Court of Justice to rule that it should not make a decision now in the Orams case as this might damage Cyprus settlement talks.
The revelation came from Constantis Candounas, lawyer for Meletis Apostolides on whose occupied Kyrenia property David and Linda Orams have built a house.
“The Commission tried to argue the inarguable, that legal rights should be foregone, and, in my opinion, this was totally unacceptable,” he said, appearing before Cypriot journalists and foreign correspondents soon after the decision by the ECJ.
Commission Representative Frank Hoffmeister had asked the ECJ to clarify whether the British court could refuse to enforce a Cyprus court ruling demanding the return of the property and the payment of compensation because it was not in line with policy that the Cyprus problem should be solved through negotiations.
The ECJ rejected this, stating that there was no such British policy.
Apostolides can now hope that following the ECJ ruling, the British Court of Appeal will enforce a decision of a Cypriot Court through an EU regulation ordering a British couple to vacate his property in the occupied areas and pay compensation to him.
His lawyer said that there was no way the British Court of Appeal could get around the ECJ ruling, which it had solicited, unless David and Linda Orams and their attorneys came up with new arguments.
In that case, Candounas noted, they would have to ask for the Court’s permission to present these arguments.
Responding to questions, he said that if the British court ordered the decision of the Cypriot court to be enforced in the UK and the Orams refused to comply, they would face the consequences of the law.
For instance, if the Orams refused to pull down the house they had illegally built on Apostolides’ land, the refugee owner could seek a contempt of court order in Britain.
And, if they refuse to compensate him, as the Cypriot court had ordered, Apostolides can then move against their UK property and ask for the liquidation of their assets. According to a rough estimate, the money owed to Apostolides so far amounted to about ?35,000, but there was also the question of meeting his legal costs, which were much higher than that.
Commenting on suggestions that the Orams could appeal to the House of Lords, Candounas said that those who held these views had not read the relevant EU Regulation 44/2001 and they were themselves in need of legal advice.
According to Annex IV of the Regulation, in the UK there was the right of a single further appeal on a point of law, which the Orams had already exhausted.
On the basis of evidence he presented at the press conference, Candounas also rejected continuing claims that the Orams had bought Apostolides’ property in good faith and that they had not had a fair hearing at the Nicosia District Court.
Replying to questions about reports that the Orams had already applied to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the grounds of unfair trial, he said that he had been hearing about this for the past two years.
“I contacted the legal department of the Republic, which would be the defendant party in such a case, and they told me they have not received anything so far,” he said.
Candounas made clear that the case was not over yet, although he was quite optimistic about it. Asked what would happen if Apostolides lost at the British Court of Appeal, he said that that would be the end of the story.
He said that he expected the Orams case to be over by next October at the latest.
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Another case
During the press conference, Candounas revealed that he is handling another case similar to the one he has just won for Meletis Apostolides.
He said it was also against Britons who had bought Greek Cypriot refugee property in Karmi village, Kyrenia.
Candounas had already secured a Cypriot court judgment for his new clients but had agreed to set it aside so as to give the defendants the opportunity to appeal.
The hearing dates have been set for May.
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The EU will sooner or later realise the mistake they made.
Actually we don't want to rule you! Just to rule our island with or without you. And you are not letting us rule our island democratically with you together so guess what our only option for freedom is!
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