WORLD
Cyprus `Gambling Grannies` prosecution not on the cards
Baku, March 4 (AZERTAC). Cyprus is to suspend legal proceedings against 42 elderly women who were summoned to appear in court later this month accused of illegal gambling, the island`s attorney general said.
The move follows public dismay after media reports that the women -- the youngest is 62 and the oldest 98 -- were being prosecuted under the country`s gambling laws which carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail for a conviction.
Gambling with cards is banned in the east Mediterranean country, although many Greek Cypriots play casually for money, especially during the New Year holidays.
State radio reported that attorney general Petros Clerides had asked to review the police file on the case and had decided to suspend legal proceedings.
"Yes, I gave the order to suspend proceedings after I saw the case file," Clerides told the broadcaster.
He said he was only made aware the police were planning to prosecute after media reports.
"I would not have let this proceed if I`d known," the attorney general said.
The card-playing women, mostly in their 70s, were rounded up in a police raid on a private home in the southern coastal town of Limassol in November 2009.
The original round-up bagged 44 women caught playing gin rummy for money -- police collected €100 (133 dollars) in cash -- but two have since died.
"I still play cards. It gives me life and my friends feel the same," the oldest player, 98-year-old former teacher Eftychia Yiasemidou, told Phileleftheros newspaper.
"We play for fun. We don`t harm families or deprive children of money like the big gamblers do."