House president Annita Demetriou on Monday penned a letter to European Parliament president Roberta Metsola expressing her “outrage and indignation” at the arrest and continued detention of five Greek Cypriots in the north.

“These five persons were abducted on July 19 in the occupied village of Gastria … upon unfounded accusations,” she wrote, adding that they have since been held “under inhumane conditions, despite their elderly status and health problems”.

“In a clearly premeditated political act of retaliation for the lawful prosecution by the Republic of Cyprus of foreign nationals usurping and commercially exploiting Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied area, the illegal regime – subordinate to Turkey – has reacted in a way that blatantly violates international law and the fundamental rights and freedoms of Greek Cypriots,” she wrote.

She added that the five Greek Cypriots had been “forcibly displaced since 1974” and have now been “punished merely for attempting to visit their ancestral properties under Turkish military occupation”.

“It is worth noting that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, has explicitly acknowledged the vindictive character of such moves. Obviously, these actions aim to further intimidate and deter Greek Cypriots from visiting their properties and seeking redress,” she wrote.

She then added that the arrests “severely undermine prospects” of a solution to the Cyprus problem, and that “such tactics are clearly not conducive to the climate of trust called for by [United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres]”.

“On the contrary, they align with Ankara’s claim for a ‘two-state’ solution and its ultimate aim of a de jure partition of Cyprus,” she wrote.

As such, she called on Metsola to exert her influence so their ordeal comes to an end as soon as possible.

The five Greek Cypriots are next set to appear in court on Wednesday, as their trial at a military court related to allegations that one of them entered the north illegally and that the other four aided and abetted that illegal entry continues.

Further hearings in that case are set to take place on Thursday and Friday, while they will also appear at a civilian court in Trikomo on Thursday as part of a separate trial related to charges of privacy violations, trespassing, and breaching the peace while in Gastria.