LANDMARK RULING ALLOWS DEPORTED HUSBAND TO STAY IN CYPRUS
By John Leonidou
Cyprus Mail
Oct 26 2007
Cyprus
A MAN who was barred from Cyprus despite being married to Cypriot has
won a court battle to stay in Cyprus. Armenian Spartak Petrosian and
his wife Siranush had launched an appeal at the Supreme Court after the
immigration services ordered him to be leave the country. The court
ruling, released yesterday, stated that the rights of Petrosian had
been violated because he was married to a woman with a Cypriot passport
and therefore could stay, not only in Cyprus, but anywhere in Europe.
The court described the government’s assumption that certain EU laws on
free movement did not apply to Cyprus as "illogical". The Petrosian
couple’s defence lawyer, Yiannakis Erotokritou, had launched the
appeal against the government, and more specifically the Interior
Ministry and Immigration Services, citing two violations of his
clients’ rights:
1) That the husband had received a letter from immigration informing
him that he had to leave Cyprus despite being married to a Cypriot
woman and having three Cypriot children.
2) That the wife also had her rights as a European citizen violated by
the order to have her legal husband deported. Civil Engineer Spartak
and his wife Siranush – a qualified doctor – arrived on the island
in December 1993. In October 2001, Spartak was jailed for nine months
on pimping related charges. Claiming his innocence, Spartak launched
an appeal at the Supreme Court and his conviction was quashed in
February 2003. But around a month later he was informed that he would
nevertheless be deported, something which eventually happened on May
7, 2003. While Spartak was out of the country, his wife applied for
Cypriot citizenship, which was granted to her in February 2005. When
his wife underwent surgery towards the end of 2005, Spartak was given
special permission to come to the island and be by his wife’s side.
But he was later informed by immigration that his application to have
his stay extended to be with his recovering wife had been denied. It
was then that the couple decided to take the matter to court. In
his ruling, Judge Frixos Nicolaides observed a bizarre sequence of
events. There appeared to be a string of letters sent to Siranush,
in which her husband was being ordered to leave the island, even
after he had left. What was even more puzzling was the fact that the
state attorney had argued that Siranush’s request to the immigration
authorities to have her husband by her side had been accepted by the
services and even presented to the court the letter which had been
sent to her. "On the right side of the letter, dated February 20,
2006, it says ‘extension for residence until February 28, 2006 is
accepted’ but it doesn’t state who it is written by," said Judge
Nicolaides. "It is also doesn’t state if it has been approved by a
higher authority because it bears no signature. "Quite the opposite,
on February 13, 2006 she [Siranush] was sent a letter informing her
that her application had been rejected and that her husband should
make arrangements to leave the island because his permit had expired
on January 29, 2006." The judge continues, "And that it is not all.
At the bottom of a letter, dated February 6, 2006, there is the
handwritten word ‘he has departed’. Again, no detail as to who wrote
the letter was ever given. So the question remains, why did they ask
him to leave in the letter dated February 13, 2006, if it was stated
[in the previous letter] that he had already left?" Judge Nicolaides
also dismissed an argument from the state which noted that a law not
to deport relatives of EU citizens did not apply to Cyprus.
"It is my conclusion to reject the position of the state which noted
that the law applies only to relatives of EU member states and not
to relatives of Cypriots. Such a thing would be illogical but would
also be discrimination towards Cypriot citizens." Commenting on the
violations of the couple’s rights, with the immigration services
not allowing her husband to stay in Cyprus, the judge said: "The
law stipulates free movement for EU residents and their families
including Cyprus."