A surprise development occurred at Monday’s hearing before the Assize Court in a case concerning the usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the north, involving 41-year-old Ukrainian real estate agent Denys Pohodin.
The defendant pleaded guilty to 18 of the 36 charges against him. The admitted charges relate to the advertising and promotion of properties owned by Greek Cypriot owners without their consent. Pohodin advertised and promoted properties for sale in various tourism developments that were illegally built in the occupied areas.
Following this development, the Assize Court set the next hearing for 11 May 2026, for presentation of facts and sentencing on the charges to which the defendant pleaded guilty, as well as for a hearing on the charges he did not admit. Regarding the remaining counts, consultations are ongoing between the prosecution and the defence in order to agree on the facts and suspend the other 18 charges.
Pohodin has been in custody since last March, after his arrest at Larnaca airport. He owns a website and company involved in real estate transactions in the north. The company, GP Cyprus, advertises and sells properties in various locations in the north, where large tourism complexes with apartments and villas have been built by developers.
In videos posted on his company’s YouTube channel, Pohodin introduces himself to the public and potential buyers, stating that he is from Ukraine, specifically Odesa. He says he has been active in the real estate sector since 2015 and that he relocated and began operating in the north in 2022. The 41-year-old Ukrainian was arrested on 20 March.
Other convictions
About a year ago, the same Assize Court in Nicosia sentenced two women from Hungary to prison in similar cases involving the usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties. Ilona Lesko and Melinda Ladanyi pleaded guilty to offences related to the illegal usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas.
Lesko received a prison sentence of two-and-a-half years, while Ladanyi was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment. The two women had advertised and promoted property sales in the north and jointly faced 63 charges. Lesko admitted guilt to 21 counts and Ladanyi to six.
Sentencing also followed guilty pleas by Turkish-Israeli Simon Mistriel Aykut, who had faced 242 charges related to the usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties. During the trial, he pleaded guilty to 40 counts, with the remaining charges suspended, and received a five-year prison sentence. Aykut was transferred a few days ago to prisons in Israel to serve the remainder of his sentence.