Cyprus-Forum.com

[Expatkiwi]

Why don't you piss off instead, Mitchell? You just can't accept the fact that a non-Turk supports the Turkish Cypriots. That's more than just sad; its pathetic.

[CopperLine]

‘Paphos court refused to accept that I was stuck in the north’
By Stefanos Evripidou
A TURKISH Cypriot motorist fined €500 for not paying a speeding ticket on time has accused a Paphos judge of failing to accept the realities of the island’s occupation.

Kufi Birinci, 52, originally from Ayios Nicolaos in Paphos went before a Paphos court last Monday, shocked to find that the €60 speeding ticket he had failed to pay had turned into a €500 fine. According to Birinci, the judge refused to accept the fact that the 52-year-old had missed his last court date because the occupation forces in the north had withheld his travel documents, preventing him from leaving.

“The judge said ‘this is no excuse’. What does he mean? I live under occupation. Greek Cypriots have never lived under occupation, they don’t know what it means,” he said.

Birinci lives in the north but has been travelling back to his village in Paphos on a frequent basis for the last three decades. “I’ve been going back since 1979, going through Pergamos and Pyla and getting into trouble for it, way before the checkpoints opened,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

A while ago, he was stopped for speeding and received a €60 fine which he failed to pay on time. When he failed to meet the second deadline for payment, a court date was set for the traffic offence.

However, Birinci was unable to attend due to the fact that he had been arrested by Turkish Cypriot authorities trying to cross from the north to the government-controlled areas with €70,000. The maximum allowed to be taken out of the occupied areas in cash is €10,000. As a result, Birinci’s travel documents were confiscated while a court case was pending in the north.

“I don’t see what the problem is. I see Cyprus as one island. I left my shop with the money and was going to my village in Paphos. What right did they have to prevent me?” he said.

Birinci was not allowed to leave the north during his case regarding the €70,000, which led him to miss the court hearing in Paphos for the unpaid ticket. On November 20, he was finally able to leave and tried to cross over.

“The (Greek Cypriot) police told me they had orders to arrest me because I didn’t show up in court. I explained the situation to them and they let me go, telling me to go to court immediately.”

Last Monday, Birinci made his way to the Paphos court, once there police officers who were friends of his warned him that he would be arrested if the case was not heard that day.

“I called up some friends in Nicosia to make sure the papers for my case got to court in time,” said the 52-year-old.

The papers arrived and the case was finally heard on the same day. The judge asked if Birinci needed a translator, but he declined as he speaks Greek. “But the stenographer had a problem with my Greek and wouldn’t accept. She also had a problem with an Arab guy before me who spoke good Greek. I don’t know why, they’ve accepted me before when I spoke Greek as a witness in the Nicosia court,” he said.

“The judge ordered my arrest until they could get an interpreter, but Turkish is an official language of the Republic anyway, they should have had someone available,” he added.

In an effort to avoid the cell, Birinci offered to conduct the hearing in English. “When the judge asked why I had missed court some weeks ago, I explained to him what had happened. But he said: ‘I do not accept what you said as being a serious reason for not coming to court,’ said the man from Ayios Nicolaos.

“I felt like saying to him, ‘does this mean there is no occupation?’ but I was scared to because there were people opposite me who could arrest me. He didn’t treat me well from the beginning. Everybody else he charged €250-€300 for the same traffic offences, and me, he charged €500,” he added.

The judge reportedly cited the number of road accidents in Cyprus as a result of speeding and the need to increase penalties, as well as the fact that he had missed a court date as reasons for the €500 penalty.

“I wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t said ‘I don’t accept your reasons’, but he did and this means there is no occupation,” said the 52-year-old.

As Birinci left the court, he saw a Greek Cypriot man with one arm handcuffed to a bench. “I asked him what happened and he said he didn’t have the money to pay for his fine so they handcuffed him until his brother could bring it. You don’t even see this in the occupied areas. He is not a killer, just a traffic violator,” said Birinci.

A source within Traffic Police headquarters in Nicosia told the Cyprus Mail that it was not common for speeding offences to end up in court as most people pay them in time. “But the court has the power in such cases to impose a fine of up to €1,708 and/or a one-year jail sentence,” said the police officer.

“The sentence is neither illegal nor illogical. The court has the power to do this. It is not my place to get into the reasoning of the judge on why he missed his court hearing,” he added.

Asked to comment on the man handcuffed to the bench for a traffic offence, the source said: “The court had probably issued an arrest warrant and ordered the policeman in court to arrest him until he paid his fine. It’s not illogical.”




Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Sounds to me like his right to a fair trial, to a fair procedure, have been violated. That his case was not conducted in Turkish is also a violation of basic fair trial proceedings.

[Raymanoff]

A Fair trial was conducted when he agreed to answer court through a translator... all he had to ask is for trial to be in Turkish so it could be postponed untill the court would prepare his case in Turkish... or have a Turkish translator standby. Fucking Cyprus Mail is getting on my nerves...

[Get Real!]

OFFICIAL: NO occupation

For a while I thought you got fired...

[Viewpoint]

He broke the law in the TRNC which the "RoC" does not recognize and therefore didnt accept his excuse as according the the "wise" judge he should have told the non exsisting police in the TRNC to FO because he had to pay a speeding ticket...how ignorant and arrogant these GC really are..at least we know how we will be treated in a united Cyprus if Gcs are left to their own devices...one fine for GCs and another for TCs.

[Oracle]

People come up with all sorts of excuse ... big deal. Another Turk trying to capitalise on Cyprus' situation!

Throw him in the slammer ...

[YFred]

People come up with all sorts of excuse ... big deal. Another Turk trying to capitalise on Cyprus' situation!

Throw him in the slammer ...

Not that different to the enclaves then, he'll be alright, it'll be like a holiday camp.

[Oracle]

People come up with all sorts of excuse ... big deal. Another Turk trying to capitalise on Cyprus' situation!

Throw him in the slammer ...

Not that different to the enclaves then, he'll be alright, it'll be like a holiday camp.

Your minds are forever enclaved. Voluntary enslavement to your Kemalist 'fatherland' ... Or, is that 'motherland'?

Who would have thought; Mustafa Kemal had a girl's name

[paliometoxo]

€70,000. The maximum allowed to be taken out of the occupied areas in cash is €10,000

really? from north to south?

[paliometoxo]

‘Paphos court refused to accept that I was stuck in the north’
By Stefanos Evripidou

A TURKISH Cypriot motorist fined €500 for not paying a speeding ticket on time has accused a Paphos judge of failing to accept the realities of the island’s occupation.

Kufi Birinci, 52, originally from Ayios Nicolaos in Paphos went before a Paphos court last Monday, shocked to find that the €60 speeding ticket he had failed to pay had turned into a €500 fine. According to Birinci, the judge refused to accept the fact that the 52-year-old had missed his last court date because the occupation forces in the north had withheld his travel documents, preventing him from leaving.

“The judge said ‘this is no excuse’. What does he mean? I live under occupation. Greek Cypriots have never lived under occupation, they don’t know what it means,” he said.

Birinci lives in the north but has been travelling back to his village in Paphos on a frequent basis for the last three decades. “I’ve been going back since 1979, going through Pergamos and Pyla and getting into trouble for it, way before the checkpoints opened,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

A while ago, he was stopped for speeding and received a €60 fine which he failed to pay on time. When he failed to meet the second deadline for payment, a court date was set for the traffic offence.

However, Birinci was unable to attend due to the fact that he had been arrested by Turkish Cypriot authorities trying to cross from the north to the government-controlled areas with €70,000. The maximum allowed to be taken out of the occupied areas in cash is €10,000. As a result, Birinci’s travel documents were confiscated while a court case was pending in the north.

“I don’t see what the problem is. I see Cyprus as one island. I left my shop with the money and was going to my village in Paphos. What right did they have to prevent me?” he said.

Birinci was not allowed to leave the north during his case regarding the €70,000, which led him to miss the court hearing in Paphos for the unpaid ticket. On November 20, he was finally able to leave and tried to cross over.

“The (Greek Cypriot) police told me they had orders to arrest me because I didn’t show up in court. I explained the situation to them and they let me go, telling me to go to court immediately.”

Last Monday, Birinci made his way to the Paphos court, once there police officers who were friends of his warned him that he would be arrested if the case was not heard that day.

“I called up some friends in Nicosia to make sure the papers for my case got to court in time,” said the 52-year-old.

The papers arrived and the case was finally heard on the same day. The judge asked if Birinci needed a translator, but he declined as he speaks Greek. “But the stenographer had a problem with my Greek and wouldn’t accept. She also had a problem with an Arab guy before me who spoke good Greek. I don’t know why, they’ve accepted me before when I spoke Greek as a witness in the Nicosia court,” he said.

“The judge ordered my arrest until they could get an interpreter, but Turkish is an official language of the Republic anyway, they should have had someone available,” he added.

In an effort to avoid the cell, Birinci offered to conduct the hearing in English. “When the judge asked why I had missed court some weeks ago, I explained to him what had happened. But he said: ‘I do not accept what you said as being a serious reason for not coming to court,’ said the man from Ayios Nicolaos.

“I felt like saying to him, ‘does this mean there is no occupation?’ but I was scared to because there were people opposite me who could arrest me. He didn’t treat me well from the beginning. Everybody else he charged €250-€300 for the same traffic offences, and me, he charged €500,” he added.

The judge reportedly cited the number of road accidents in Cyprus as a result of speeding and the need to increase penalties, as well as the fact that he had missed a court date as reasons for the €500 penalty.

“I wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t said ‘I don’t accept your reasons’, but he did and this means there is no occupation,” said the 52-year-old.

As Birinci left the court, he saw a Greek Cypriot man with one arm handcuffed to a bench. “I asked him what happened and he said he didn’t have the money to pay for his fine so they handcuffed him until his brother could bring it. You don’t even see this in the occupied areas. He is not a killer, just a traffic violator,” said Birinci.

A source within Traffic Police headquarters in Nicosia told the Cyprus Mail that it was not common for speeding offences to end up in court as most people pay them in time. “But the court has the power in such cases to impose a fine of up to €1,708 and/or a one-year jail sentence,” said the police officer.

“The sentence is neither illegal nor illogical. The court has the power to do this. It is not my place to get into the reasoning of the judge on why he missed his court hearing,” he added.

Asked to comment on the man handcuffed to the bench for a traffic offence, the source said: “The court had probably issued an arrest warrant and ordered the policeman in court to arrest him until he paid his fine. It’s not illogical.”