Cameroonian footballer Charles Eloundou was released a short while ago from the Limnes Pre-Removal Migrant Detention Centre, where the 31-year-old had been held pending deportation.
Police had arrested him after finding he did not hold a valid residence permit in Cyprus. As philenews first reported on August 19, the case carried added weight because the midfielder, who has played for Anorthosis, Nea Salamina and Ethnikos Achna, is a key prosecution witness in a criminal case.
According to the executive president of the Pan-Cyprian Footballers’ Association (PASP), Spyros Neofytidis, Eloundou, who is married to a French national, had applied to renew his residence permit eight months ago but became caught up in a lengthy bureaucratic process.
When philenews raised the case with police, officers said it would be handled with this background in mind.
PASP had requested Eloundou’s release pending completion of the permit renewal process, a request approved today. Neofytidis went to the Limnes centre shortly after 4pm and collected the footballer immediately after his release.
Speaking to philenews, Neofytidis thanked Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum Nicholas A. Ioannides and Police Chief Themistos Arnaoutis personally, saying that written representations he made on Eloundou’s case had been met with sensitivity.
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