On Cyprus, the organizer of a scheme involving fictitious paternity to obtain citizenship was convicted

Court proceedings in Cyprus have concluded in a case involving the illegal acquisition of citizenship using a pregnant woman. The Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance verdict — five years of imprisonment for the organizer of the scheme.

According to the case materials, the accused met a Cameroonian citizen who arrived in Cyprus while pregnant and was looking for accommodation. Instead of helping with rent, the man offered her an “alternative solution” — arranging fictitious paternity in order to obtain citizenship and a residence permit for the unborn child.

To carry out the scheme, he involved another man who was in a difficult financial situation. For €600, the man agreed to officially declare himself the biological father of the child. As a result, false information was submitted to state authorities, a birth certificate was issued with the “father’s” surname, and the child was registered as a descendant of a Cypriot citizen. Later, the fictitious father renounced parental rights, transferring full custody to the mother.

The organizer received €3,200 from the woman, part of which he passed on to his accomplice.

The Court of Appeal emphasized that the crime affects the foundations of the institution of Cypriot citizenship, the right to family life, and involves the exploitation of a vulnerable person — an unemployed woman who had applied for asylum.

The court also rejected arguments about unequal sentencing, noting that the convicted man was the initiator and coordinator of the scheme, received the main financial benefit, and had previous serious convictions. His accomplice, by contrast, participated in only one episode and had no criminal record.

As a result, the first-instance sentence was left unchanged — five years of imprisonment.