Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-04-18

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Saturday, April 18, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Japan cultist to be deported

[02] Cyprus accession 'the end of Turkey's EU hopes'

[03] Police crackdown on Easter fireworks

[04] Happy Easter? Not for local tourism

[05] Worker killed

[06] Appeal to protect monuments in the north

[01] Japan cultist to be deported

POLICE yesterday secured an order for the deportation of Japanese doomsday cult leader Tishiyasu Ouchi to Japan after moving in to stop him fleeing the island.

Ouchi was being held at Nicosia central prison late yesterday awaiting deportation to his homeland where he is wanted in connection with a 1989 cult killing. Police did not say when he would be expelled.

Ouchi, 45, was a founding member of the Aum Shinri Kyo 'Supreme Truth' cult which carried out the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 12 and poisoning more than 4,000.

The fugitive, who arrived from Moscow on March 12, was picked up along with two Russian women at a Larnaca hotel at around 5.30am, police said.

Ouchi, who was placed under surveillance by Cyprus police two weeks ago, was planning to fly back to Moscow with two Russian women yesterday afternoon, police said.

Ouchi was not arrested but was taken to Larnaca police station for seven hours while the attorney-general's office decided what to do with him. Police said Ouchi was asked to give "explanations" concerning his movements and his passport.

Cyprus has no extradition treaty with Japan and Ouchi had been issued with a permit to stay on the island until May 6, making it hard for police to arrest him.

At 1.30pm, police spokesman Glafcos Xenos announced that Ouchi had been classified as 'dangerous' and therefore undesirable by the immigration department and was to be deported.

"Ouchi has been presented with an order from the chief immigration officer which demands he leave Cyprus immediately. He is thus deported to Japan," Xenos told journalists outside Larnaca police station.

"The order notes that he is an undesirable person and that he must leave at once and that the visitor's licence issued on his arrival on March 12 is revoked," he added.

Xenos said the two Russians were to leave the island for Moscow yesterday.

The spokesman said Ouchi had realised he was being watched by police and had plotted with the two women to flee Cyprus.

A police announcement later said Ouchi's passport had been cancelled and he would be allowed to travel only with a "special temporary travel document for Japan."

Ouchi is suspected of involvement in the murder of a fellow cult-member, 21- year-old Shuji Taguchi, who was strangled after he tried to escape from the sect's commune at the foot of Mount Fuji in 1989.

Police said he arrived in Cyprus on March 12 on a holiday flight from Russia and had been staying at a Limassol holiday flat.

On April 2 he was placed on the wanted list in Japan and the Japanese authorities, Interpol and Cyprus police began working together on the case. Two Japanese detectives arrived on the island to help with investigations.

Ouchi led the doomsday cult's activities in Moscow from 1992, but the Russian authorities began to investigate him and it was reported on April 2 that he had left Russia for a third country.

Aum Shinri Kyo has around 2,000 followers and 20 branches across Japan. Its leader Shoko Asahara is currently on trial on 17 charges, including murder.

The deportation order was challenged by Nicosia lawyer John Mylonas, who told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the government had no right to deport Ouchi to a specific country. He also questioned how police were able to hold Ouchi for seven hours without arresting him.

"The miracle by which the 'terrorist' spent seven hours in a police station voluntarily and the miracle by which the chief immigration officer has ordered his deportation to Japan, which is another way of saying extradition in complete violation of all human rights, is beyond belief," Mylonas said.

"Legally Cyprus cannot deport Ouchi to Japan. It can order him to leave Cyprus and give him reasonable time to prepare to go where he likes," he said.

[02] Cyprus accession 'the end of Turkey's EU hopes'

THE entry of a divided Cyprus into the European Union will spell an end to Turkey's hopes for EU accession, External Affairs Commissioner Hans Van Den Broek has said.

Speaking in Washington, Van Den Broek said that EU member states were "disappointed" with the Turkish Cypriot decision not to participate in the talks, but that President Glafcos Clerides' proposals to include them were still on the table.

Van Den Broek said that if there was no change, it would be the Turkish side which would lose out in the end. It was probable, he added, that unless there was a change in the Turkish position, it would be a divided Cyprus which entered the EU.

He went on to say that this would end Turkish accession hopes, as in order to become a member the country must fulfil all EU criteria, and this would include contributing to a Cyprus solution and easing tension in the Aegean.

The Commissioner also mentioned the Russian S-300 missiles ordered by Cyprus, suggesting that it would be positive if the government tried to avoid their deployment. The whole situation relating to the missiles, he said, "is about to get hotter when summer comes".

Speaking yesterday at the start of a trip to Europe, US Defence Secretary William Cohen reiterated that America "would like to see the Greek Cypriots not acquire the Russian missiles".

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Cohen urged restraint over the missiles affair.

"I think both countries now realise there is a danger in allowing the rhetoric to get too escalated, and they are trying to tone it down... we hope each will exercise restraint. That (the missiles issue) does present something of a flashpoint in their relations with each other," he said of Greece and Turkey.

[03] Police crackdown on Easter fireworks

DESPITE a police crackdown on fireworks in the lead-up to Easter, a six- year-old girl from Nicosia has already been injured in a banger-related incident.

Police said yesterday she sustained light injuries in one of two accidents reported in Nicosia on Thursday, and is being treated in Strovolos hospital.

Police are currently enforcing a clamp-down on the sale and distribution of bangers and firecrackers, which will last until Monday in an attempt bid to minimise accidents during this year's traditional celebrations.

So far, 200 bangers have been confiscated by police after searches in the Nicosia and Paphos areas.

Police are keeping a close eye on churches, the traditional venue for Easter celebrants to set off fireworks, many of them powerful home-made devices that can maim and even kill.

Last Easter fireworks killed one person and injured six others. Nicos Yiangou, 26, from Paphos, died when a firecracker went off in his hand during a resurrection service at a church in Stroumbi village.

Dinos Poullas, 30, was seriously injured in the same incident.

Last year police confiscated more than 330 fireworks over the Easter period. They also made nine arrests. In more than 20 reported explosions caused by fireworks, several buildings were damaged, including a primary school and Ayios Nikolaos Church in Deftera.

Meanwhile, the police traffic branch is also taking extra precautions to prevent accidents arising from the increased number of cars on the roads over the Easter holiday.

Police say they will book those not wearing seat-belts, breaking the speed- limit, and driving under the influence of alcohol.

[04] Happy Easter? Not for local tourism

HOTELIERS around the island say they are not expecting a lucrative Easter weekend, with capacity running only at an average of 50 per cent.

A sudden change in the weather on Thursday back from the abnormal 35 degrees of earlier in the week to the usual April temperatures of around 25 was expected to put a further damper on any possible last-minute local bookings.

Adding a new element to the equation is what some hoteliers say is a new trend, with more and more Cypriots opting to travel abroad for Easter - particularly this year to Greece because of the current favourable exchange rate.

As in the past two years hardest hit in the war for guests is Larnaca, which has ceased to be featured in the major British brochures for the past two years.

"It's a total disaster," said Photis Adonis, the Larnaca representative of the Hoteliers' Association. "Usually we have some local custom but unfortunately not as much as in the past. It seems people prefer to go further than Larnaca."

Adonis said most of Larnaca's Cypriot customers now come from Nicosia - though an increasing number are buying their own holiday homes in the town - while the other destinations have customers from all over the island.

"Who is going to go to Larnaca from Paphos?" said Adonis. Our prices are lower than the other destinations but that doesn't seem to be making a difference." He said local hotels were averaging 50 per cent capacity.

Hoteliers in Limassol who reported capacity way below normal for March and April repeated Larnaca's pessimistic tones. Representative Iraklis Irakleous said four- and five-star hotels had around 50-55 per cent occupancy rates, while three-star establishments were up to just over 60 per cent.

"These figures are bad," said Irakleous. "Bookings for the rest to Cyprus may be increasing, but not in Limassol." He blamed the town's current problems on the continuing road and sewage works which have plagued Limassol for the past three years.

"Cypriots are aware of the works and prefer to go to Protaras, Ayia Napa and Paphos," said Irakleous.

Limassol's top hotels have had a lucrative week, however, according to Le Meridien manager John Wood.

He said they had been almost full for the 'English' Easter last weekend and expect to do well for the Orthodox Easter also. "We also had guests for the Jewish Passover and for Ramadan," Wood said.

Representatives for the traditional Cypriot destinations of Paphos and Protaras areas were unavailable to comment, but Nicos Matheou, representing hotels in the mountain areas reported being 80 per cent full.

"We're not doing too badly, but while it's good enough for Easter it's not as good as in previous years," he said. "A lot of Cypriots are now travelling abroad on special offers."

He added that their high capacity for Easter may have something to do with the fact there are fewer hotels to fill in the mountains than on the coast.

[05] Worker killed

Father of three Andreas Pelopidas, who worked at a nearby manufacturing plant, had stepped round the back of his van to open the rear door and failed to see the excavator coming towards him.

A bases doctor was summoned, but was unable to do anything to help, as he had been killed instantly.

[06] Appeal to protect monuments in the north

On the occasion of today's International Monument Day, as designated by the International Council of Monuments of States (ICOMOS), it said that out of 774 monuments on the island, 197 are in the occupied areas.

Access for maintenance and preservation purposes has therefore been impossible for the past 23 years.

This has lead to monuments like the ancient cities of Engomi, Soli, Lambousa and Bellapais being left to fall into ruin, it said.

The Antiquities Department added that in spite of representations made previously to international organisations, the looting and destruction of Cyprus' cultural heritage continues.

It also noted that the government has been commended internationally for its preservation of several archaeological sites and monuments in the free areas.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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