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French Court Rejects Cyprus' Request to Extradite Land Grabber

Published January 22, 2026, 15:13
French Court Rejects Cyprus' Request to Extradite Land Grabber

A French court has definitively rejected a request from the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) to extradite an Iranian citizen, who has acquired “citizenship” in the pseudo-state, for a case of land grabbing of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied territories. The rejection was based on the fact that European law does not apply within the borders of the pseudo-state. Tufan Erhürman, commenting on the decision, emphasized that it is not right to burden citizens with the consequences of the lack of a Cyprus solution and that the property issue should be treated as part of the overall problem, and not as a result of individual actions. He expressed hope that confidence-building approaches will prevail. According to Turkish Cypriot media, the French court found the evidence submitted by the RoC to support the charge to be insufficient and inconsistent. Furthermore, the charge concerned acts committed in the pseudo-state, which is not under the control of the RoC. The Iranian citizen, Behdant Jafari, stated that the decision was based on the fact that the charges concerned an area outside the control of the RoC and that the evidence submitted by the RoC was insufficient. The EU expresses full solidarity with Denmark.