Former Cyprus deputy attorney general to stand trial over €177,108 compensation for demolished house

Former Deputy Attorney General of Cyprus and former judge of the European Court of Human Rights Lukis Loucaides has confirmed that criminal proceedings have been initiated against him. The case has been referred to the Limassol Permanent Criminal Court, with the first hearing scheduled for 14 September. It concerns €177,108.12 that he received from the Limassol Municipality as compensation for a demolished house and allegedly failed to pass on to the estate administrator.

A complaint was filed with the police in July 2025 by the administrator of the estate of a deceased woman. The municipality demolished the woman’s house to build a road. In a letter dated 26 August 2026, the Law Office of Cyprus, after reviewing the material collected by the police, instructed that criminal proceedings be initiated.

“This is malicious prosecution, and there is a conspiracy behind it. I have committed no crime,” Loucaides told the Cyprus News Agency. From 1975 to 1998, he served as deputy attorney general, after which he worked as a judge in Strasbourg.

According to his account, the story began around 2008, when the estate administrator at the time instructed him to file a lawsuit against the Limassol Municipality, which had demolished the house and failed to pay compensation. The District Court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that it should have been filed at the time of the expropriation. Loucaides appealed, and the Court of Appeal suggested that the parties reach an out-of-court settlement. The lawyer conducted the negotiations himself.

He received the money in order to pass it on to his client, but by that time the client had ceased to act as the estate administrator, and the lawyer had neither his telephone number nor his address. According to Loucaides, he searched for both the administrator and the deceased woman’s relatives at addresses in Limassol and Nicosia, but without success. “I waited and waited; the years went by. No one came,” he said.

The situation changed in 2025, when a new estate administrator was appointed and, through a lawyer, requested that the money be transferred. Loucaides says he agreed in a letter to hand over the amount and suggested meeting, but received no response; instead, a police investigation began. He later offered to pay the money in instalments.