AKEL accuses Cyprus authorities of ignoring communities over prison — Cyprus Mail
Cypriot party AKEL has called on the Ministry of Justice to conduct proper studies and consult local authorities before implementing the decision to locate new central prisons in Ayios Sozomenos. As Cyprus Mail reports, the party supports the need for modern central prisons but criticises the site selection procedure.
In a statement, AKEL said that the ministry should not make decisions on such a large-scale project without studies and consultations with local government bodies. The party described the relocation of the planned site from Mathiatis to Ayios Sozomenos within Dali municipality as evidence of a chaotic decision-making process.
Call to review the decision
AKEL called on the government and Justice Minister Kostas Fytiris to make a new decision only after the necessary studies and consultations with the communities affected by the project. The party said that local self-government cannot be ignored, especially during a reform that central authorities must support in practice.
The criticism followed a joint statement by the municipalities of Dali and Latsia-Yeria, which demanded the immediate cancellation of the site decision. They noted that Ayios Sozomenos already hosts industrial and agricultural facilities, including livestock waste processing enterprises, quarries and pig farms, and that an overhead power line runs through the area. According to the municipalities, the territory is also designated for livestock farming under the national sector recovery plan.
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Project relocation
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Justice said it had abandoned plans to build the prisons in Mathiatis in favour of Ayios Sozomenos. The ministry cited cost and time considerations, as the new site already has access to roads, sewerage, water supply and electricity.
In March, Fytiris announced plans to build the facility in Mathiatis. Construction was expected to begin next year and be completed within five years. The cost of the complex, designed for 1,500 inmates, was estimated at €300 million. The previous option drew objections from the Mathiatis heritage protection group over environmental and cultural issues, as well as criticism from local mukhtar Theodoros Tsatsou, who said residents had not been properly informed.
Ayios Sozomenos is a village near the Green Line that was abandoned after intercommunal violence. It contains a Byzantine cave chapel, an unfinished Latin church of Saint Mamas, and mud-brick ruins left by its former residents, Turkish Cypriots.
