Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-05-22

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

Friday, May 22, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Houses passes gay sex bill

[02] UN confirms intercommunal basis of Cyprus talks

[03] Prosecutors say new evidence will foil squaddies' appeal

[04] Airport improvement delays costing a million a month

[05] Tempers flare over fishing rights

[06] Koshis hails decision to axe bodyguards

[07] 'Hannay wants to hurt us'

[08] Medical Association slams government health policy

[09] Woman sought after fatal crash

[01] Houses passes gay sex bill

AFTER years of political infighting in the face of strong church opposition, House of Representatives deputies finally bit the bullet yesterday and passed a bill decriminalising homosexuality.

The controversial legislation was approved with 36 votes for and eight against just eight days before a deadline set by the Council of Europe for amendment of the Island's antiquated gay laws.

House President Spyros Kyprianou said afterwards the bill was passed in order to avoid "serious consequences" for Cyprus' relations with Europe and only after changes were agreed to include provisions which "clearly state homosexuality is not encouraged".

The afternoon vote was delayed for more than two hours as party parliamentary teams wrangled in back rooms to cut a deal to overcome the objections of deputies unwilling to publicly 'support' homosexuality in the face of Church and public opposition.

Deputies tried all day yesterday to agree a formula whereby opponents of the bill would simply not attend the vote, as Akel - with 19 representatives in the 56-member House - were threatening to block it unless unanimous approval was agreed.

But in the end approval seems to have hinged on last-minute adjustments to the bill designed to ensure sex between consenting adult males was decriminalised but not "encouraged".

Speaking in his office after the vote, Kyprianou - whose Diko party opposed decriminalisation - did not say what these changes were but made it clear they had been decisive.

"I am as religious as the next person, my position is not one of encouraging homosexuality, but there are new provisions in the bill which clearly state the non-encouragement of homosexuality," he said.

These last-ditch adjustments also appeared to have dampened Church opposition to the bill. Speaking earlier in the day, Archbishop Chrysostomos said he had been assured by deputies the changes would mean homosexuality was not 'promoted'.

"The bill will decriminalise homosexuality but there will be provisions which allow measures to be taken if, say, a minor is involved or it is done in a public space... something like that," Chrysostomos said. Such provisions, he said, would "remedy the situation to some extent".

After the Church leader's statements only three demonstrators turned out to confront deputies as they entered the House yesterday. Orthodox traditionalists, who have previously demonstrated in numbers against the bill, had on Wednesday threatened to blacklist deputies who voted for the bill.

Kyprianou also said Cyprus could not buck the European trend on gay rights without paying a price. "All European countries cannot be wrong and we right," he said.

The Council of Europe had set May 29 as a final deadline for Cyprus to comply with a 1993 European Court of Human Rights ruling to decriminalise homosexual relations. The decriminalisation bill was tabled soon after the 1993 ruling but a vote was postponed repeatedly. Cyprus could have faced expulsion from the Council of Europe for failing to meet the final deadline.

"It was a serious decision by the House because it was an issue on which there were strong feelings both within the House and within society," Kyprianou said.

Five deputies of Kyprianou's Diko party (Tassos Papadopoulos, Nicos Moushioutas, Nicos Cleanthous, Marios Matsakis and Nicos Pittokopitis) voted against the bill while party general secretary Stathis Kittis was the sole abstainer. The other 'no' votes came from governing Disy's Stelios Stylianou, Stelios Yerasimou and Evangelos Sammoutas. Eleven deputies stayed away.

Gay activist Alecos Modinos - who made the appeal to the European Court of justice which precipitated the bill - said yesterday he was "pleased because the House has finally done its duty, even if it was at the last minute".

But he reserved final judgment on the new law until after the nature of the 'adjustments' became known, expressing fears that these provisions might amount to prejudicial treatment against homosexuals.

[02] UN confirms intercommunal basis of Cyprus talks

The council view was made clear in a five-line reply that its president, Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya, sent to a letter from Secretary-general Kofi Annan outlining the results of a visit that his special adviser on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, paid to the island from March 17 to 22.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash told Cordovez the picture had changed since President Glafcos Clerides' government, which the Turkish Cypriots do not recognise as speaking on their behalf, recently began talks for membership of the entire island in the European Union.

Denktash says any further talks must be based on acknowledging the existence of two separate states in Cyprus - one Greek Cypriot and the other Turkish Cypriot.

But yesterday Security Council President Mahugu, in his brief reply to Annan, said council members "reiterate their strong support for your mission of good offices for Cyprus and for the efforts of your special adviser on Cyprus, Mr Diego Cordovez, on the basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions."

All such resolutions call for negotiations on reuniting the divided island to be conducted on an inter-communal basis, and do not recognise the existence of a Turkish Cypriot state.

[03] Prosecutors say new evidence will foil squaddies' appeal

PROSECUTORS attempting to foil an appeal by three British squaddies convicted of kiliing Dane Lousie Jensen said yesterday they had new evidence to keep them behind bars.

The three, sentenced to life in 1996 for the abduction and killing of the Danish tour guide, started their Supreme Court appeal against the verdict yesterday.

Justin Fowler, 30, from Falmouth, Allan Ford, 29, from Birmingham and Geoffrey Pernell, 27, of Oldbury in the West Midlands, received life sentences in March 1996 for the savage killing of 23-year-old Jensen.

Their lawyers are basing their appeal on claims of illegal arrest, undue harshness of the sentence and alleged mistakes made by criminal court judges.

They hope to have the lower court decision overturned, or at least to have the sentences reduced by the Supreme Court.

A life sentence in Cyprus means life without remission.

The Supreme Court must now decide whether it should accept a request by prosecution lawyer Petros Clerides to bring in retired City of London chief inspector Michael Flack, 53, from Bexley, Kent, to give evidence.

Flack spent time last year in the same Nicosia Central Prison as the three squaddies following his conviction on a petty burglary charge connected to what the police described as a case of industrial espionage.

Flack was in Cyprus investigating pharmaceutical fraud in his capacity as a private detective and says he was framed.

The three squaddies had allegedly told Flack what really happened on the night Jensen was raped and murdered.

The former detective, according to the prosecution, has already made a statement to the authorities.

Defence lawyers Tassos Katsikides and Antonis Andreou, who represent Ford and Pernell respectively, did not object to the prosecution's request.

Christos Pougourides, Fowler's lawyer, however, did object and asked the court for more time to gather information to be used to prevent Flack's appearance as a witness.

"I have been informed that this witness has sold his story for hundreds of thousands to the English press and therefore could influence this case," said Pougourides.

Judge George Pikis said Pougourides would be allowed to state his objections during the hearing for the prosecution's request to bring Flack to Cyprus.

It is understood that Flack has evidence on who actually killed Jensen, something that the lengthy trial of the three squaddies in a criminal court in Larnaca never clearly established.

In September 1994, Louise Jensen was snatched outside an Ayia Napa petrol station after being knocked off a bike driven by her Cypriot boyfriend.

The soldiers, then serving in Cyprus with the First Battalion Royal Green Jackets, bundled her in a car, took her to a remote spot where they stripped and sexually assaulted her before beating her to death with a spade.

The three appeared in court yesterday in casual clothes, rather than the jacket and tie attire they consistently wore during their Larnaca trial.

They sat quietly through the proceedings at the Supreme Court in Nicosia.

The hearing was adjourned until June 15.

[04] Airport improvement delays costing a million a month

WORK to upgrade Larnaca airport is 19 months behind schedule and the delay is adding 1 million pounds a month to the final cost.

This was the message at the House Watchdog Committee for Public Expenditure yesterday, where the issue of the delay in planning for upgrading Larnaca airport was tabled by Diko deputy Nicos Cleanthous.

Cleanthous called for planning to proceed as quickly as possible so that construction work could begin, arguing the delay was an issue of management and funding that "should have been dealt with by now".

An initial masterplan setting out the airport's restructuring was completed in 1991 and estimated the total cost of the project at £85 million. In October 1997, however, a new estimate was set at £148 million. And as revealed by Auditor-general Spyros Christou, this is now rising by over 1 million pounds a month, bringing the estimate to £161 million by the time the construction plans are completed in October.

Attempting to explain the delay, airport Project Manager Lefteris Stylianides argued the upgrade was a "complicated project" that could not be rushed if functional problems were to be avoided at a later stage.

But Stylianides admitted that the planning contract had been signed in December 1995 before a project management team had even been set up to oversee the project. There was therefore an initial delay until the end of May 1996, when the team was formed with himself as Project Manager.

Further delays were the result of additional specifications introduced by the Project Management Team at various stages in the project.

These included a climate control system for airplanes on landing, an automated baggage control circuit costing £1 million, flat monitor screens and passenger gantries.

This prompted the chairman, Christos Pourgourides, to ask why these specifications had not been considered at an earlier phase. Technology, Stylianides replied, changes so rapidly that plans must be changed continuously.

Various deputies responded animatedly at this point, with Akel deputy Aristophanes Georgiou pointing out that automated baggage control systems had been around for years.

And Cleanthous added that improvements were made to established airports all the time, and wondered whether "we are going to keep studying developments and wait to include them as they happen.

He again stressed that the problem was one of funding and management, and called on the government to state its policy on the issue.

The committee chairman agreed it was a matter for the Council of Ministers but closed the meeting setting another session for early December in order to re-examine developments.

According to the Project Management Team, the construction plan will be completed in October.

[05] Tempers flare over fishing rights

TEMPERS flared yesterday at the House Agriculture Committee as fishermen accused the Fisheries Department of inaction in the face of their threatened livelihood.

The committee room was packed with fishermen from around the island who hit out at the Fisheries Department's method of distributing fishing licences and their inaction over the continued threat posed by dolphins.

Fishermen claimed the Department was handing out licences to people who did not meet the criteria of fishing being their sole source of income, while denying licences to those who really needed them.

They were backed up by committee chairman, Akel deputy Christos Mavrocordatos, who argued licences were given to hoteliers and public servants, yet denied to retired fishermen.

The committee agreed to recommend the establishment of categories for the distribution of licences, distinguishing between professional fishermen and amateurs, in order to ensure that those dependent on fishing for their livelihood were not denied a licence.

The issue of damage caused to fishing nets by dolphins and proposed counter- measures was also on the agenda.

Mavrocordatos pointed out that both issues had come before the committee several times since 1991, yet nothing had been done to solve the problems. "We have discussed these problems many times before without making any progress," he said.

He argued that an insurance plan intended to compensate fishermen for damage caused to their nets by dolphins was not being applied, and highlighted the added difficulty of proposed compensation being inadequate.

The president of the Cyprus Association of Professional Fishermen, Andreas Adamou, claimed fishermen did not want compensation, but the enforcement of measures to keep dolphins away from their nets.

One fisherman interjected to say they would go as far as killing the dolphins. "We would rather go to jail than have our children starve," he added.

Fisheries Department head Andreas Demetropoulos said the government was dealing with the dolphin problem through the trial of an automatic machine designed to scare dolphins away from fishing waters, but argued it had been a lengthy process.

Diko deputy Nicos Pittokopitis suggested the Fisheries Department establish a system of replacing those fishing nets damaged by dolphins.

But Demetropoulos replied the department did not know what type of fishing nets fishermen used, and that the Fishermen's Association would be in a better position to fulfil such a role with government funding to buy the nets.

The committee again failed to reach a decision on the issue, giving Pittokopitis the opportunity to joke: "If we can't solve the problem of fishing nets, how are we going to solve the Cyprus problem?"

[06] Koshis hails decision to axe bodyguards

The redeployment comes in the wake of the government's decision to slash by half the number of bodyguards protecting political leaders and other public figures.

"Not only are we saving £2 million, but we also have an extra 130 men who will be deployed to combat crime," Justice Minister Nicos Koshis said yesterday.

"The decision will be enforced as soon as possible, and it should take less than a month to get things running smoothly," he added.

The cabinet on Wednesday halved the government's £4 million protection budget, ensuring the guards of leaders like Diko's Sypros Kyprianou and Edek's Vassos Lyssarides will no longer, as was being claimed, be used as highly paid messenger boys.

President Clerides has shown even-handedness by reducing his own Palace guard from 147 to 99 policemen.

"We haven't faced serious opposition to the decision from party leaders; some have voiced their opinion, but I think everybody has accepted our position that political leaders are not in any danger and don't need heavy protection," Koshis said.

But soon after, Akel issued a press release condemning the government for not consulting party leaders before making the decision.

Akel deputy Costas Papacostas had also earlier charged Koshis with showing contempt for the House of Representatives by reducing security.

"I think there must be a misunderstanding, the political guards and House security are two separate issues," Koshis replied.

And the minister added that, rather than being reduced, the number of House guards could be raised in the future.

[07] 'Hannay wants to hurt us'

Speaking before a meeting on Wednesday with David Reddaway, the Director of the Foreign Office's Southern Europe Desk, Denktash said that since Hannay did not recognise the existence of the 'TRNC', there was "no need to talk to him".

"Sir David was appointed as co-ordinator to be of help to us. But he has decided not to recognise our existence and to regard the Greek Cypriot government as legitimate," Denktash explained.

He concluded that he and his regime "don't like people telling us that they would never recognise us," but that they remained in contact with the UK through the mediation of British High Commissioner in Cyprus David Madden.

Madden also made a short statement before the meeting, saying that Hannay was not a co-ordinator, but a Special Representative and that his views were in harmony with UN parameters.

[08] Medical Association slams government health policy

According to a report by the Association, one third of the island's doctors -- those working in the state sector -- treat 70 per cent of the population.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Medical Association argues that public health system doctors are working under brutal conditions due to an unbearable work load, while doctors in the private sector have ample resources and medical equipment that are left unused.

The Medical Association claims that instead of moving towards using private sector resources, government policy continues to expand government units, even though the cost to the government of public health care is higher than that of private health care.

Caring for an internal patient in the public system costs between £100 and £136 per day, and the cost for an out-patient is between £9 and £20.

Doctors claim that repeated suggestions by the Medical Association on how to improve the health system and implement a national health scheme have been ignored. They continue to call for a national health scheme and for the creation of a mixed health system of co-operation between the public and private health sectors.

[09] Woman sought after fatal crash

The accident happened at around 5.15am, when a van driven by Christos Mitas, 47, from Pareklisia, collided with a saloon car driven by Dimitris Tsangarides, 47.

Mitas' passenger, Nicos Koni, 66 from Famagusta was severely injured in the accident and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The accident occurred on the Nicosia to Limassol highway near Zygi.

Mitas and Tsangarides were injured in the crash, but alcotests showed neither was over the limit. None of the victims were thought to have been wearing seat belts.

The woman, who is believed to be foreign, was travelling in

Tsangarides' vehicle. Larnaca traffic police are investigating.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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