Student who asked police for help to return to his country detained for living illegally in north Cyprus

A student who have been living illegally in north Cyprus for over 2 years approached the police to help get back to his country but was arrested for illegal residency. He did know?

The individual named only as FJ had around 9:00pm on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024 visited the Lefkosia police branch to ask for help from the police to go to his country when he was arrested and detained for living in the country illegally.

He was taken to the Lefkosia district court on Friday.

Police told the court that during the immigration check, it was determined that he had been living illegally in the country without a residence permit for 794 days since October 27, 2021. 

Police stated that he was arrested with force after his status was confirmed from Immigration Office. 

The suspect, who was given the right to speak after the police in court, said that he came to the country in 2021, got a residence permit in the first place, but could not continue his legal proceedings due to financial problems.

Evaluating the testimony in court, the judge stated that the crime of residence permit is a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to 6 months and is becoming more common day by day, and ordered the suspect to be sent to prison for a period not exceeding 20 days until trial.