The daughter of Tasos Isaac has won an appeal against the Paralimni municipality, which failed to return the unused land from an expropriated plot belonging to her father, who had been beaten to death in 1996 by Turkish forces in the buffer zone during demonstrations.
The ruling, which was issued on October 30 and made public on Thursday, said Maria Isaac Kouskounou was justified in her demand and sent the case back to the court of first instance.
The court of first instance had deemed part of the appellant’s case overdue and had dismissed it, and had also examined whether she had the right to seek a court decision since both the owners of the land – her father and his brother – had since died.
Tasos Isaac alone had seven children and the court examined whether she could open a case without the participation of the rest of the heirs and without their authorisation.
Kouskounou’s lawyer said her client had the legal right to appeal, as the rights of the other heirs were not affected, on the contrary she was requesting that the land be returned to all heirs not just herself.
The court had ruled that all heirs should have lodged the case and ordered Kouskounou to pay legal expenses.
She then appealed the decision, saying her rights had been violated and she was indeed justified in taking the case to court.
The appeals court said the appellant was undeniably an heir to the property.
It added that if expropriated land is not used for the purpose intended within three years, by law the authority expropriating it is obliged to offer the property upon payment of the purchase price to the person from whom it was taken.
The beneficiary then has three months to accept or reject the offer.
If an agreement is not reached, the matter is settled in court.
The appeals court in its decision pointed out that a co-owner of property could appeal a court decision alone, without harming the interests of other owners, and no regulation could deny any of the owners their right to appeal a decision.
Thus, the registered owners of the plot in question had every right to appeal decisions affecting their interests, even if only one co-owner did so.
In this context, the appeals court deemed the court of first instance was wrong to demand that all co-owners should have collectively filed the case.
The appeals court set aside the first instance judgement, including its costs, and sent the case back to the court of first instance before a different judge to examine the aspects that had not been examined earlier.
It also awarded costs of €3,000 plus VAT in favour of the appellant.
Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou were killed during two separate demonstrations in the buffer zone near Dherynia during August 1996.
Isaac was killed on August 11, 1996, when Greek Cypriot motorcyclist protesters were met in the buffer zone by Turkish Cypriot counter-protesters who, according to the United Nations report on the incident, were “joined by members of the Grey Wolves who had come from Turkey”.
As demonstrators from both sides broke into the buffer zone, the incident became violent. Isaac found himself entangled in barbed wire and was beaten to death by Turkish Cypriots and Turks.
Solomou was killed three days later when, following Isaac’s funeral, Greek Cypriot demonstrators once again travelled to Dherynia.
He distanced himself from his fellow protesters and walked towards a Turkish military post, attempting to climb a flagpole to remove a Turkish flag, before being shot dead by a Turkish soldier.
