Supreme court rejects Assad ally’s appeal against citizenship revocation

The Supreme Constitutional Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by a Syrian businessman against the revocation of his Cypriot citizenship after his name had appeared on a European Union list of financiers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The man is also one of Assad’s cousins.

He had applied for Cypriot citizenship for himself, his wife and their four sons in 2009 under the country’s citizenship through investment programme, commonly known as the ‘golden passport’ scheme.

The first red flags regarding the man’s dealings were raised in Cyprus as early as January 2010, when the then migration department director informed then Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis that the United States had frozen all the man’s US-based assets and banned American citizens from entering into any financial transactions with him.

This was due to his “involvement in corruption scandals”, with Sylikiotis being informed that the man “used his close relationship with [Assad], his cousin, as well as other unfair means to secure preferential contracts and other business privileges and advantages.”

As such, the migration department director recommended the application be rejected.

Despite this, Sylikiotis submitted a proposal to cabinet on December 28, 2010, that the six citizenships be granted, stating that the man and his wife “are considered to offer the highest level of services to the Republic of Cyprus”.

The six people were naturalised after the cabinet, under late President Demetris Christofias, determined that the man’s naturalisation would “serve the public interest”.

At the time, he had deposits amounting to €17.3 million in Cypriot banks and owned real estate worth €320,000 in real estate.

However, shortly after the citizenships were granted, the European Council then passed a directive to “freeze the funds and financial resources of certain persons and entities responsible for … the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations of the civilian population.”

This regulation was then updated on January 18, 2012, and included the details of the man Cyprus had recently naturalised, describing him as a cousin of [Assad] who “funds the regime by facilitating the violent suppression of protests”.

The interior ministry submitted a new proposal to cabinet shortly after the first regulation was published, writing that “it is obvious” that the man “provides funding for the violent suppression of demonstrations in Syria, which have resulted in the deaths of a large number of civilians”.

These actions, they said, “contravene the principles which govern the state system and the business sector of this country as well as the moral values of Cypriot society in general.”

In August 2011, Christofias’ cabinet approved Sylikiotis’ proposal to revoke the man’s citizenship and those of his family, while the Syrians requested an investigation be launched into the matter.

The cabinet of the day then appointed an inquiry commission, which examined the matter and eventually found cabinet to be correct in their decision to revoke the citizenships.

Then, in May 2013, the cabinet, now led by former President Nicos Anastasiades, confirmed the execution of the 2011 decision to revoke the six citizenships, saying it had “taken into account” the inquiry commission’s findings.

The family then began to appeal their citizenships’ revocation through the courts, with the court of first instance upholding the government’s decision, with the family appealing the ruling.

They had reportedly claimed the court of first instance had “failed to consider whether the contest decision was ‘in the children’s interests’, since they were minors at the time”.

However, it was concluded that the appeal was “formulated in a general and vague manner, without giving any evidence as to why the deprivation of European Union citizenship adversely impacted the minors.”

The court pointed out that their citizenship was only revoked “a few months after” they had acquired Cypriot citizenship.

“The present case does not fall under the cases where persons who reside in a country for a long period of time create ties with the country and the deprivation of their political status may affect their rights protected by Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights of make them stateless,” the court said.

The appeal was thus dismissed and the Republic was awarded €3,500 in costs.