A Lithuanian estate agent who stands accused of having “usurped” Greek Cypriot-owned property in northern Cyprus is to be extradited to the island after having been arrested in France pursuant to the issuing of a European arrest warrant, according to reports on Saturday.

She was arrested at Nice airport before appealing against the execution of the European arrest warrant, with a French court having previously found in the case of Iranian national Behdad Jafari that given that the European Union’s acquis Communautaire is suspended in the north, it cannot be applied there.

However, given that France’s legal system is based on civil law and not common law, as is the case in Cyprus, the Jafari ruling does not bind future courts, and the court in this instance ruled that the warrant against the Lithuanian national could be executed.

As such, it is now expected that she will be extradited to Cyprus to face court.

The case comes with Cyprus having doubled its efforts in recent years to prosecute those it accuses of illegally advertising the sale of and erecting buildings on Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north.

The most high-profile was Israeli property developer Simon Aykut, who was in October last year sentenced to five years in jail after having pled guilty to a total of 40 of the charges he faced related to the development and sale of Greek Cypriot property in the north.

He was sent to Israel in April to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

More recently, the German embassy in Nicosia issued a “strong protest”, demanding the release of a woman held in custody for two years, accused of advertising real estate in northern Cyprus owned by Greek Cypriots.

The woman was arrested in 2024 after having a conversation aboard a flight with Elam member of the European parliament Geadis Geadi in which prosecutors allege she admitted to selling Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north. She has remained in custody ever since.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, too, has criticised the Republic of Cyprus’ policy of arresting people it accuses of illegally using property which was owned by Greek Cypriots.

“It is absolutely wrong to try to make individuals pay the price for the problems arising from a lack of a solution, and to treat the property issue, which is part of the Cyprus problem, as if it were a problem stemming from individuals’ actions and transactions,” he said.