Five Years in Jail for the Israeli Behind Cyprus's Caesar Resorts

The Permanent Criminal Court of Nicosia sentenced an Israeli property developer to five years in prison after finding him guilty of usurping Greek Cypriot land in the Turkish-occupied north of the island. Simon Mistriel Aykut, who is Israeli and also holds Turkish and Portuguese nationality, was convicted on the 40 charges he admitted, all relating to fraudulent transactions involving real estate belonging to another person.

The offences concerned 40 plots covering roughly 400,000 square metres and worth approximately €40 million, around 150 million shekels. They related to five building complexes in the north of Cyprus: Caesar Cliff at Agios Amvrosios, Caesar Resort at Trikomo, Caesar Beach and Caesar Blue at Gastria, and Caesar Breeze and Caesar Bay at Akanthou. Aykut had been in custody since June 2024, and the sentence took the time already elapsed into account.

What usurpation means in Cypriot law

The conduct Aykut admitted amounts, under the Cyprus Criminal Code, to usurpation, an offence carrying up to seven years in prison. The court’s decision was described as unprecedented because it was the first time the elements of that offence had been applied to the misappropriation of Greek Cypriot land. In other words, the legal instrument existed; what was new was using it against a developer building and selling on land whose registered owners have not lived there for half a century.

Why land in northern Cyprus is contested

Cyprus has been partitioned since 1974. Turkish forces invaded on 20 July that year and halted at the Green Line, a division that still cuts through Nicosia and makes it, as Al Jazeera put it, the world’s last divided capital. Roughly 200,000 Greek Cypriots were displaced from the north between July 1974 and May 1978. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declared independence in 1983 and is recognised only by Turkey, while the Republic of Cyprus, which claims sovereignty over the whole island, is a member of the European Union.

The consequence for property is that the title deeds of displaced Greek Cypriots remain valid in the eyes of the Republic and of the courts sitting in the south, even though the land itself lies beyond the Republic’s effective control. Developments built and sold in the north therefore sit on land that, in Nicosia’s courts, still belongs to someone else.

A conviction Cyprus intends others to notice

The Cyprus Mail reported that Aykut pleaded guilty to 40 of an initial 242 charges, which included fraudulent real estate transactions, possession of stolen land, money laundering and conspiracy, and that he was arrested in June 2024 while crossing at the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint. He operated through the Afik Group and, the prosecution said, had never obtained the consent of the registered Greek Cypriot owners.

Nicosia intends the case to be read as a warning. The lawyer Christos Clerides told the same paper that the decision “sends a resounding message in all directions, especially to those who intended to invest illegally in the occupied territories”, and said it should discourage estate agents and others from taking part in such sales.

What is still unclear

The announcement did not say whether Aykut would appeal, or how much of the five-year term remained once his time in custody since June 2024 was credited. It said nothing about the position of people who have bought flats in the Caesar complexes, or about whether the land or any proceeds can be recovered for the registered owners. The figures also vary between accounts: the Cyprus Mail put the market value at just over €36 million and the area at 394,969 square metres, against the roughly €40 million and 400,000 square metres given in the original announcement.