Five students sentenced to 6 and 8 months in prison for trying to enter south Cyprus illegally

Five foreigners who were arrested and tried for trying enter south Cyprus illegally were sentenced to six an eight months in prison respectively by a TRNC court.

The prison sentence against the five defendants identified only as; UA, NZW, PM, PPJ and EVP, 29 was announced by a Lefkosa court on Wednesday.

UA was sentenced to 8 months in prison while NZW, PM, PPH and EVP were sentenced to 6 months in prison each.

The incident happened on March, 22, 2023 when four Congolese students, two males and two females were identified and arrested by the Crime Prevention Police in the Yılmazköy underpass area of ​​the Lefkosia - Güzelyurt main road.

They were then taken to court on charges of forming a secret alliance to commit a crime.

At the time, police said one of the defendant, NZW had agreed to take PM, PPH and EVP to south Cyprus illegally in a car in exchange for 50 euros. It was determined that NZW had left PPJ and EVP in an area close to the border.

UA was found to be connected to the crime as a result of the investigation carried out after the arrest of the other 4 defendants.

NZW was released on bail after the investigation while the other 4 defendants were sent to prison until trial.

Delivering the judgement in court, the lead judge said 4 of the defendants were arrested for the crime of "Forming a Secret Alliance to Commit a Crime" and one defendant was arrested after being found to have a connection with the crime.

The judge emphasized the seriousness of the crime of "forming a secret alliance to commit a crime" for which the defendants were convicted, and announced that they deemed it appropriate to give a prison sentence to all of them. 

UA who had a greater role in the crime was sentenced to 8 months in prison, and the other 4 defendants to 6 months each.