A Cyprus court has sentenced a Syrian national to five years in prison for helping 31 Syrian migrants reach the Mediterranean island nation on board an overloaded boat, the attorney general’s office has said.
The office said in a statement that the Syrian man, himself a migrant, was convicted on three charges including people trafficking and aiding migrants to enter Cyprus.
The court ruled that he struck a deal with traffickers to captain the boat from an unnamed Syrian port in exchange for not having to pay the fee for the journey.
The statement didn’t say when the boat reached Cyprus.
According to the ruling, the man received training on how to operate the boat and was in radio contact with another trafficker who instructed him on the route.
“With his actions, the accused, without any hesitation, made himself an active part of a group taking advantage of people,” the court said.
Such acts need to be dealt with severely because of their increasing frequency, the court said.
Syria is about 93 nautical miles (173 kilometres) from European Union member Cyprus’ south-eastern corner.
Stepped-up prosecutions and swift legal proceedings have contributed to a drop in the number of migrants reaching Cyprus after a government pledge to tackle the issue.
It became a key issue during the 2023 presidential election.
According to statistics from the attorney general’s office, the international protection administrative court adjudicated 4,534 cases last year, of which 63 were successful.
Twenty-five of those migrants were granted refugee status, and four received international protection. The court upheld the status for another 25 and ordered a retrial for the remaining eight.
But the United Nations refugee agency has accused Cyprus of continuing to engage in pushbacks at sea, something the Cypriot government denies.
