Cypriot Attorney General threatens lawmakers with prosecution for law-breaking

Cyprus's Attorney General threatened lawmakers on Monday with prosecution after having accused them of shamelessly breaking the law.

Costas Clerides, Cyprus's top legal officer, told the state television that he is seriously contemplating requesting the country's Supreme Court to lift the immunity of parliamentary deputies who do not respect neither the law nor law-enforcement officials.

His main complaint was that lawmakers systematically have violated speeding regulations and then failed to pay fines imposed on the spot by traffic officers.

"We have to wait until the end of their parliamentary term to chase them to pay their fines," the Attorney General said.

He added that there have been cases of extreme behavior by some lawmakers, which are really frightening, such as driving at excessive speed.

"Some deputies have even shown a shameful behavior towards law-enforcement officers who flagged them down, hurling abuse and threats against them," said Clerides.

Clerides declined to name law-breaking deputies, but he implied that they come from almost all parties.

A governing party lawmaker recently caused an international outcry when he bragged on Facebook that he dined on songbirds, flouting European Union Directives and Cypriot legislation aimed at protecting the migratory birds.

His picture in front of a plate of pilaf trimmed with songbirds caused the European Union to threaten Cyprus with a fine if it allowed any exceptions in the prohibition of killing, trapping or possessing and consuming of the protected species.

Clerides said that the case of lawmakers who themselves flout the laws they enact is a source of alarm. Endit