The Commissioner of Administration, Maria Stylianou, calls on the Ministry of the Interior to immediately review the application for naturalization of a recognized refugee who has lived in Cyprus for the last 20 years, and which was rejected on the basis of the criterion of “good character”. -Lottidis, in her report.
Specifically, the Commissioner recommends to the Minister of the Interior, to whom she also submits the Report, how, within the framework of his responsibilities, he ensures that the complainant's request to acquire Cypriot citizenship through naturalization, "receives an immediate review", taking into account the findings of the in relation to the case.
As mentioned in the Report, the complaint was submitted by Korina Drousiotou, Coordinator of the non-governmental organization Cyprus Refugee Council (CRC) regarding the rejection, in May 2021, of an application submitted by a recognized refugee to acquire Cypriot citizenship by naturalization, on the basis of the criterion of the legislation that requires the applicant to be of good character.
The CRC stated/argued that the complainant has been residing in Cyprus for the past 20 years, as he came to the country with his family in 2001, aged just 7 years old and grew up in Cyprus with his mother, after his father abandoned them, reports the Report.
In 2003, all his family members, as well as himself, were granted recognized refugee status, it is reported, while the complainant applied for Cypriot citizenship in 2017, 16 years after his arrival in Cyprus and 14 years after recognition of as a refugee.
It is noted that his request was rejected in May 2021, on the grounds that he did not meet condition 1(c) of the Third Schedule of the Population Records Law, i.e. it had not been established beyond all doubt that he is a person of good character, because he had previously employed the Police for an offense related to a case of theft.
Indeed, it is stated, the complainant committed the offense charged, (stealing copper pipes from a school) and the sentence imposed by the Court was two years' suspended imprisonment and a fine of €1000. "However, the offense was committed when the complainant was still a minor (17 years old) and, in any case, it took place 6 years before the submission of his application for the acquisition of Cypriot citizenship", it states. It is noted that, after committing it, he voluntarily went to the Police and confessed his act, while the reasons that led him to commit the offense were directly related to the serious financial problems that his family was facing at the time, since the mother she was unemployed and had health problems.
It is also stated that the complainant has been working since a young age in various companies and that for the last five years he has been working for the same company, in which in 2020, after relevant training and obtaining a refrigerant license, he was promoted to be responsible for the installation workshops of central air conditioning systems, Split Units and photovoltaics. "His employer, in a relevant letter of recommendation, glorifies his character and hard work", it is added.
The CRC noted that the rejection of his application "contradicts the provisions, but also the spirit" of the Rehabilitation of Convicts Act of 1981, which aims to de-stigmatize people convicted of specific crimes for the rest of their lives.
The Commissioner notes that the relevant Law determines the "recovery period" of an offender, from the date of his conviction and according to the sentence imposed on him and his age. Specifically, for cases where the prison sentence exceeds one year but not two years, the rehabilitation period for persons under 21 years of age or national guards is set at two years.
It is also referred to, in the United Nations Convention of 1951, which states that the contracting countries will facilitate, as far as possible, the assimilation and naturalization of refugees and will try to speed up the naturalization process and reduce the publicµburdens of this process.
In the context of investigating the complaint, the Commissioner reports that she sent in September 2021 a letter to the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior and to the then Director of the Department of Population Records and Immigration (TAPM), highlighting, among other things, as mentioned, the provisions of the Law on the Rehabilitation of Convicted Persons, according to which, persons who are rehabilitated , in relation to any conviction, are deemed, as a matter of law, to have never committed, been charged with, prosecuted or convicted of that particular criminal offence.
It was also noted that the meaning and interpretation of the criterion of "good character" for the purposes of examining applications for the acquisition of Cypriot citizenship, "has been repeatedly commented on by my Office". In particular, the Report states, in systemic positions in relation to broader issues concerning the acquisition of Cypriot citizenship, it was pointed out that legislation does not define and specify the concept of "good character", despite the fact that it has a variable content, is difficult to define and is open to different interpretative approaches.
In its reply letter, dated 6/12/2021, the TAPM “limited itself to telling us that “there is no question of reviewing the application in question for obtaining Cypriot citizenship, since no new information emerged that was not taken into account during the examination and which could change the decision of the Minister of the Interior”, states the Report.
In addition, the Commissioner's office informed, as stated, that “the Department is promoting a bill to amend the Population Record Law 141(I)/2002, which includes a proposal to specify the criterion of good character.
It is reported that in new letters from her office, they asked TAPM to inform them at what stage the process of amending the said Law is at, as well as what exactly this amendment will include, as far as the criterion of “good character” is concerned.
In her reply letters, the Assistant Director of TAPM "repeated the position" that "there is no question of review" of the case of the complainant and informed them that the bill promoted by the TAPM to amend the Third Table of article 111 of the Population Record Law N.141(I)/2002 is under examination. He also mentioned that in the proposed amendment, the criterion of good character is specified, among others, in persons who: have not shown, by deeds or words, a lack of integrity or disfavor towards the Republic, they are not wanted internationally, they have not been sentenced to prison for any crime in the Republic or abroad, no criminal case is pending against them in the Republic or abroad, they do not pose a danger to the public order and security of the Republic.
< p> The Commissioner recommends, in addition to the matter of reviewing the application, also how, in the context of amending the provisions of the population record legislation governing the granting of Cypriot citizenship by naturalization, include/add welfare, any to clarify that any conviction which is "reinstated" on the basis of the Rehabilitation of Convicted Persons Law, it will not be taken into account for the purposes of evaluating the application.
Source: KYPE
