Trafficker gets 3 years

A MAN who helped bring 15 Syrians into the TRNC illegally has been jailed for three and half years.

Serhat Yenigün was found guilty of driving the refugees into North Cyprus after picking them up from the Küçükerenköy coast earlier this month.

The group had arrived in two boats from Mersin, Turkey, Gazimağusa Assize Court heard last Friday.

A panel of three judges headed by Fatma Şenol unanimously convicted Mr Yenigün.

Judge Şenol said that the sentence was “fair”, taking into account mitigating circumstances, but that that it should also serve as a “deterrent” to other human traffickers.

She said the sentence was possible due to a recent change in the law.

“Through an amendment made to the Penal Code in 2020, which envisage severe punishments for such crimes . . . of up to 10 years, a new era in the fight against human trafficking has begun,” she told the court.

Stating that human trafficking is a “global problem” that involves international criminal networks, Judge Şenol said that the number of refugees arriving in the TRNC was increasing “day by day”.

Those trying to escape “harsh conditions” in their home countries were falling into the hands of “criminal organisations” who left them in “desperate” situations, she added.

“Severe punishments for those who attempt to provide illegal entry to people into countries for material benefits is very important in the fight against such crimes,” the judge said.

“As Cyprus is an island, such crimes are mostly committed through the oldest method, which is by sea. In such trafficking, refugees face great risks and even losing their lives . . . such crimes are very difficult to detect.”

Judge Şenol called on the government to “take the necessary measures” and said that human trafficking victims should be “recognised and accepted as asylum seekers” so that their “fundamental human rights are not violated”.

Referring to Mr Yenigün, the judge said that the “real culprits” had not been caught and that the defendant, a father of two with no previous convictions, had been “undergoing psychological treatment for two years” and had not made any “material gain” from his crime of “providing transportation” for the trafficked Syrians.

Meanwhile police in Gazimağusa detained 12 Syrian men on Sunday evening after they entered the TRNC “illegally”. An investigation was launched to establish how they arrived in the country.