Dali and Latsia call for prison decision in Ayios Sozomenos to be cancelled

The municipalities of Dali and Latsia-Geri have called for the government’s decision to locate a new central prison complex in the abandoned village of Ayios Sozomenos near Nicosia to be cancelled immediately. In a joint statement on Thursday, they said the site had been selected without proper consultation with local authorities.

The municipalities do not dispute the need for modern prison infrastructure, but insist that a facility of this scale should only be located following a “comprehensive and scientifically substantiated study”.

According to them, the area is already overloaded: it is home to industrial and agricultural facilities, livestock waste processing plants, quarries and pig farms, while an overhead power line belonging to the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) runs through the area. In addition, the site lies within land allocated for livestock farming under the national plan to revive the sector, and the municipalities believe this factor “cannot be ignored” when assessing the site.

Dali and Latsia-Geri represent approximately 60,000 residents in total and say that local authorities cannot be excluded from a decision “with such consequences for the entire region”. They are calling for all further action on the site to be suspended until consultations with the communities have taken place and for alternative locations to be considered.

The statement came after the Justice Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had rejected the Mathiatis site in favour of Ayios Sozomenos based on cost and timeframe criteria. At Mathiatis, roads, sewage, water supply and electricity networks would have had to be installed, whereas these networks already exist near Ayios Sozomenos.

Justice Minister Kostas Fytiris announced the Mathiatis site in March, citing its proximity to the capital and the land’s state ownership. That option prompted objections from residents and the Mathiatis heritage protection group. Construction is scheduled to begin next year and take up to five years: the €300 million prison will have capacity for 1,500 inmates.