VIOLATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CYPRUS

The direct promotion of the law concerning the strict punishment of certain forms and manifestations of racism and xenophobia, is to be decided by the House of Representatives.

After the end of the session of the Commission, President Nicholas Jonas said that it was a very important Law .
He claimed that this Law leads to the criminalization of certain racist and xenophobic attitudes and sets penalties and sanctions that may be imposed.
Therefore, he said that the Law contained a special provision to allow prosecution of these behaviors when they are presented on the web as well.
He added that the new law clearly provides the obligation of police to investigate and prosecute these crimes, whether there is a complaint or not.
''If there is a complaint or not the police will now investigate this kind of racist or xenophobic attitudes or motives,''he said”.
He also claims that the punishment provided is imprisonment up to three years or a fine of up to 10,000 euro.
It is now understood that some people want the criminalization of Nationalism. We would therefore ask the authors of this Law, what is racist and xenophobic behavior?
Who will be the one who determines whether a person or a group is racist or not?
The truth is that the Cypriot establishment has been "panicked" by the influence of the National People's Front (E.LA.M.) and is trying to find ways to stop our upward path.
We believe that we are being led into a difficult period during which our enemies will try to criminalize our views.
We certainly do not believe that the views we express are racist or xenophobic ones. But we are sure that some well-wishers (see KISA, parliamentary parties, etc.) will try to use this law against the National People's Front (E.LA.M.).
On the other hand nothing can stop us. The views and positions of theNational People's Front (E.LA.M.) are also expressed by the majority of Cypriot society.
We are also addressing to the Nationalist parties of Europe especially those which are represented in the European Parliamentary in Brussels to keep an eye on the communist Cypriot Government .
On the second half of the year 2012 Cyprus will be holding the Presidency of the European Community .