Cyprus’s Criminal Code, which dates from 1929, still cross-refers to ‘the Indies’ and makes it an offence for a horse carried in a cart to stick out by a few centimetres, parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee heard on Wednesday, as lawyers and parliament members called for a radical overhaul.
Ilias Stefanou, a criminal lawyer representing the Cyprus Bar Association, told the committee that efforts to modernise the code, which began in 2000, had failed. For 20 years committees of professors and judges had tried without success, he said. The code was consolidated in 1959, but its wording dates back a century, which is why some articles still refer to ‘the Indies’.
Members also heard about offences involving railways, which Cyprus does not have, and a ban on smashing plates that Stefanou said was added in 1975 because at the time some people were refugees while others were smashing plates. Committee chairwoman Fotini Tsiridou said some of the code’s 374 articles still refer to Cypriot pounds.
The discussion followed a case brought before the European Court of Human Rights by a Muslim man living in Larnaca, who cancelled his daughter’s wedding after discovering that the code barred him from hiring a female dancer. The case, Ziya v. Cyprus, ended in September 2026 with a friendly settlement under which he was paid 5,000 euros and the state committed to changing the law. The Justice Ministry has since tabled a bill to repeal the article.
Article 79 makes it a misdemeanour to organise a Muslim celebration of a wedding or circumcision, or to own the premises where one is held, and to hire, or knowingly allow, a ‘dancer’ to dance or sing during it. It defines a ‘dancer’ as a female prostitute or a woman who dances or sings for payment at such a celebration. The offence carries a fine of up to 75 pounds or one month in prison. The committee heard that no one has ever been convicted under the article.
Tsiridou said that beyond repealing Article 79, the committee would launch an initiative to modernise the Criminal Code, though it was a big task given its size. The committee also heard that the Law Commissioner intends to modernise the legislation and has written to the Justice Minister, who backs the effort.
Stefanou also pointed to inconsistencies in drug sentencing, saying possession is punishable by up to eight years in prison, while a drug user faces a maximum sentence of life. Such inequalities must be abolished, he said, adding that all criminal provisions should be reviewed and that the Cyprus Bar Association was willing to help.
Parliament had long discussed raising the maximum sentence for causing a fatal road crash from four years to ten, he said, especially as drugs and alcohol were now involved. But any change, he added, “should be done for the whole Criminal Code and not piecemeal”.
