The five Greek Cypriots who were arrested on suspicion of espionage in the north last month in the early hours of Saturday morning learned that they will remain in custody for 13 more days.

The decision to extend the five’s remands was announced the end of a marathon court session which had begun at 10am on Friday at northern Nicosia’s military court, with the hearing having taken almost 15 hours to reach its conclusion.

Proceedings had initially been delayed on Friday morning due to a technical fault with the sound recording equipment at the military court building, which is located at the Turkish Cypriot security forces command’s headquarters in the northern Nicosia suburb of Neapoli.

Due to this, the hearing was eventually held at northern Nicosia’s main courthouse in the capital’s walled city.

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They had been held in custody since their arrest on July 19, and were brought before the military court to answer accusations that one of them had entered the north illegally two days prior to their arrest, and that the other four had aided and abetted that alleged illegal entry.

Prosecutors alleged that when the five entered the north from the Strovilia crossing point, near Famagusta, on July 17, only four identity cards were handed over to the police on duty at the crossing point.

As such, they claim, one of the five entered the north illegally, and the other four aided and abetted them.

The prosecution had demanded that all five be ordered to remain in custody for a period not exceeding three months pending a trial, with two of the five already having been handed such a remand in a civilian court in Trikomo on Thursday, while the defence argued that the remaining three should be released on bail.

The two who had been remanded on Thursday also face charges of privacy violations, trespassing, and breaching the peace. Saturday’s decision notwithstanding, the remand they received on Thursday is still in force, and they will remain in custody for a period not exceeding three months pending the start of their trial in Trikomo.

All five will now be held in the north’s central prison, near the Nicosia district village of Neo Chorio, until their next court date on August 14.

According to newspaper Ozgur Gazete’s editor-in-chief Pinar Barut, who was present for the hearing, much of the final reading of the decision in the early hours of Saturday morning focused on the Turkish Cypriots who had attended the hearing and offered to act as guarantors for the five so as to facilitate the five’s release on bail.

Barut said the court had explained that potential guarantors must be evaluated both in terms of the financial resources at their disposal and their relationship to the suspects.

She added that judge Dilsah Karayel had said the Turkish Cypriot potential guarantors were “subjected to a strict line of questioning” which “latest for a very long time”, but that they had “not been shaken”.

In addition, she said judge Karayel had found that the potential guarantors were “unwavering” and had “spoken sincerely”, that there was “no evidence” that they could have been set up or bribed into offering themselves as guarantors for the Greek Cypriots, and that they had “conveyed their sincere opinions” to the court.

However, she said, judge Karayel had explained that there must be a “direct organic bond between a suspect and a guarantor”, and that given that the Turkish Cypriots who had offered themselves as guarantors had admitted in court that they had no prior personal relationship with the suspects, there was no such bond between them.

She added that judge Karayel had also criticised the prosecution’s request that the five all be held in custody for three months pending a trial, especially given that the police’s investigation into whether any of the five had entered the north illegally has been concluded, and all that remains on the police’s side is to put together the case file.

In such circumstances, judge Karayel was quoted as saying, holding the five suspects in custody for three months “would be completely against personal freedoms and constitutional rights”.

Barut did add that judge Karayel had found that it is “not possible for us to find that the suspects have any connection to the TRNC based on the testimony given here”.

“The suspects have no direct ties to the TRNC, neither in terms of work, home life, nor in terms of family, friends, or any other affiliation,” judge Karayel reportedly added.

In similar hearings, a lack of local ties is also cited as a reason to hold a suspect in custody, though Barut said judge Karayel did criticise police representative Hasan Ozguc’s assertion in court on Friday that the five would escape to the public if released.

“We cannot convict people based on a rumour,” judge Karayel said, according to Barut, who added that Ozguc “could not provide any testimony to support” his assertion.

Barut said judge Karayel had then spoken about the health conditions of the five, with it having been stated in court on Friday that one of the five, a 66-year-old woman, has been fitted with a pacemaker, and that another, a 68-year-old man, also suffers from other “health problems”, while all five are over the age of 60 years old.

She said the suspects’ health problems were “visible” in court, but that no official medical report could be submitted to the court on Friday or in the early hours of Saturday morning because “all their doctors are in the south”.

Earlier in the hearing, defence lawyers had questioned the potential motive behind such a move, given that all five have been recorded as having entered the north “tens of times” in the past. As such, the lawyers said, one of them electing to enter the north illegally last month would be out of character and illogical.

Barut also said that there is “no camera evidence” which proves that the five only handed four identity cards to the police and said that when defence lawyers had asked the prosecution to explain the possible behind the crimes of which the five are accused, “there was no answer to be found”.

Former Cyprus Turkish teachers’ trade union (Ktos) secretary-general Sener Elcil was once again present at court, having been in Trikomo on Thursday, and once again spoke up on the five’s behalf, according to Barut.

“I think they are innocent. They would not run away from justice. I do not know them, but I have close friends in the south who do,” he is quoted as saying. He also reportedly offered a guarantee of £25,000 (€28,692) for one of the five to be released on bail.

He was then asked how he could guarantee that the five will not simply escape back to the Republic and never return.

“There are 45,000 Turkish soldiers and 3,000 policemen here. It is not my job to man the border, the Turkish army can do that,” he said, according to Barut.