Latest news with #JusticeAbroad
The Independent
02-04-2025
- The Independent
Briton `distraught' after Cyprus court acquits five men accused of raping her
A British tourist is 'really shocked, sad and distraught' after charges against the five Israeli men she accused of gang-raping her in a hotel were dropped by a court in Cyprus, her lawyer has said. On Monday, a three-member Assize court, sitting as a district court in Paralimni, ruled the testimony of the 20-year-old had not been credible as it 'lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions', The Guardian reported. Police said she had picked the men out of a line-up as having raped her during a hotel pool party in the coastal resort town of Ayia Napa on September 3 2023. The defendants, who were then aged 19 and 20, had pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The woman is 'really sad and really upset' about the acquittals which saw all of the men walk free from court, according to her lawyer Michael Polak. He said: 'She is openly gay, not interested in men at all and the defence was that she consented to group sex with these Arab Israeli men who do not speak English. 'So she is really shocked by the verdict.' The woman, who cannot be legally identified, was 'highly distressed' as she told police that she was 'taken by force' during a party and was then sexually assaulted in a hotel room, it was reported. Mr Polak, who is director of the Justice Abroad organisation, added he is 'not surprised' by the ruling. It comes after the European Court of Human Rights ruling earlier this year that Cyprus' law enforcement authorities failed to live up to their obligation to thoroughly and effectively investigate a British teenager's claims. Mr Polak has written to the Attorney General in Cyprus to appeal against the verdict in this week's case. He said: 'We think one of the higher courts should look at it and look at it properly,' before adding: 'We'll see what happens but we don't have great hope.' Mr Polak said it is 'very difficult to assess' the criticisms that have been made about the 20-year-old's testimony, saying he has yet to see the full judgment. He added: 'But I do know that she has no interest in men or entering into a group sex act people she did not know or speak the same language – none of that has been mentioned.'
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- The Guardian
Cyprus court acquits five Israeli men accused of raping British woman
A Cyprus court's acquittal of five men accused of abducting and raping a British woman in the resort of Ayia Napa has been met with outrage as calls mount for the verdict to be challenged. Dismissing the charges on Monday, the three-member district court in Paralimni ruled the testimony of the 20-year-old had not been credible because it 'lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions'. The defendants, Israelis aged between 19 and 20, claimed sexual contact with the woman had been consensual. But her lawyer, Michael Polak, described the assertion as absurd. 'The young lady in this case is gay, any suggestion that she voluntarily agreed to group sex with men she had never met before, who were speaking in a different language, is ridiculous,' he told the Guardian. 'She has been left completely distraught by the court's verdict today. It was one of the hardest phone calls I have ever had to make.' All five accused had been remanded in custody since the alleged incident on 3 September 2023. On Monday, they were allowed to walk free with lawyer Nir Yaslovitzh, who represented some of the men, telling Israel's Channel 12: 'It is a brave decision that completely rejected the complainant's version and completely accepts our clients' version.' Polak, who directs the London-based legal aid group Justice Abroad, said the case was further proof of a sexist attitude in Cyprus's 'patriarchal' justice system. 'Recently, the European court of human rights ruled that there is no effective protection for women subject to sexual offences in the Republic of Cyprus,' he added. 'Unfortunately, nothing I have seen shows that there have been any improvements in this area.' He did not rule out the case being taken to the European court of human rights. In February, another British woman who also claimed she had been gang-raped in Ayia Napa by more than a dozen Israeli men in July 2019 won a 'monumental victory' over Cypriot authorities after the Strasbourg-based tribunal ruled they had 'failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant's complaint of rape'. Judge Michalis Papathanasiou, sitting in Paralimni on Monday, had been the judge on the district court who had overseen the earlier case. Last year, the island's supreme court not only overturned his decision but, in an unusual rebuke, criticised the way he had conducted proceedings, agreeing with the defendant's lawyers that the trial process had been 'manifestly unfair' and his 'interruptions and interventions unjustified and inadmissible'. The Briton, who cannot be legally identified, had been described as 'highly distressed' when, giving testimony to police, she recounted how she had been 'taken by force' during a party around the pool area of her hotel to her room and sexually assaulted. Women's groups and campaigners voiced outrage as they reacted to the ruling, with some raising the prospect of the close diplomatic ties between Cyprus and Israel influencing Monday's judgment. 'What this shows is that Cypriot courts haven't reflected at all on their past mistakes,' said Susana Pavlou, who heads the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies in Nicosia, the island's capital. 'We are shocked and appalled.' Pavlou said she had been particularly angered by the court's argument that, although the woman had taken class A drugs and consumed a 'significant amount' of alcohol, neither were enough to remove 'her ability to consent'. 'That was particularly shocking,' she said. 'It is clear, more than ever, that judicial authorities in Cyprus continue to be influenced by stereotypical attitudes and beliefs in relation to victims of sexual violence and rape.' Research, she said, had shown that victims of sexual violence were 'often considered unreliable witnesses' because of the lack of psychological and legal support navigating the judicial process. Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at
Arab News
31-03-2025
- Arab News
Cyprus court frees five Israelis accused of Briton's gang rape
NICOSIA: A Cyprus court on Monday dismissed as unreliable the evidence against five Israeli tourists accused of gang-raping a British woman in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa and ordered them freed. The five, then aged 19 to 20, were from the Arab-Israeli town of Majd Al-Krum. They had pleaded not guilty to several rape-related charges dating back to September 2023. A similar case six years ago in Ayia Napa, the Mediterranean island's premier party spot, caused an uproar after the alleged victim was herself convicted of causing public mischief. The five men in the more recent case were accused of rape, sexual assault by penetration, sexual intercourse through violence, rape by compelling sexual penetration, indecent assault against a woman, sexual harassment, and abduction. The Famagusta Criminal Court acquitted them on all counts, ruling that the complainant's version of events 'contained multiple significant contradictions.' A court announcement said the woman's testimony had 'inherent weaknesses' regarding the identification and attribution of actions to specific individuals. According to the court, her account was an 'unsafe basis for drawing conclusions on disputed issues, such as the question of consent regarding what happened inside the disputed room.' 'Given these substantial credibility issues in her testimony, as stated in the court's decision, the complainant was deemed unreliable,' it added. The then 20-year-old woman told police she was forcibly taken from a swimming pool party to a hotel room where the rape occurred. Judges ruled that claim 'unconvincing,' while she also changed her statement about how many people were in the room and attributed the same sexual act to different people. Her claim that she shouted for help was contradicted by witnesses in an adjacent room who did not hear any shouting, the court statement said. Additionally, it was taken into account that the complainant was under the influence of a significant amount of alcohol and drugs, although 'this was not to such an extent that it rendered her incapable of giving consent,' the court said. The court concluded that injuries on her body 'could not be determined to have occurred during the incident and could also appear during consensual intercourse.' Justice Abroad, a group which said it is 'supporting' the complainant, said in a statement that she is 'completely distraught' by the acquittal. Her family is raising funds to challenge the verdict, it said. In the earlier case, Cyprus police arrested 12 Israelis in 2019 after a British teenager reported being gang-raped. The Israelis were released after she retracted her statement, although she claimed the police had pressured her into doing so. The 19-year-old received a four-month suspended jail term, but the Supreme Court in 2022 quashed her conviction. On Thursday the European Court of Human Rights condemned Cyprus for 'various failures' and 'prejudicial gender stereotypes' in its handling of that case. cc/it
Sky News
27-02-2025
- Sky News
Authorities failed to investigate original claims of British woman accused of lying about being gang-raped on holiday
Cypriot authorities failed to investigate the original claims of a British woman who was later convicted of lying about being gang-raped on holiday there, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The woman, who is now in her 20s, was 19 in the summer of 2019 when she claims she was raped by 12 Israeli men at a hotel in the party resort of Ayia Napa. After retracting her statement 10 days later, she was charged with "public mischief" for making the allegations. The woman, from Derbyshire, ended up spending more than a month in jail awaiting trial and was eventually given a suspended prison sentence. She appealed her case at the Cypriot Supreme Court in Nicosia got her conviction was quashed, with the judge ruling she had likely been forced into changing her statement and was not given a fair trial. But the island's attorney general refused to reopen the original case, leading her lawyers to take it to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. On Thursday the ECHR ruled police and prosecutors in Cyprus "had fallen short of the state's duty to effectively investigate the applicant's allegations". The judgment adds that "certain biases concerning women in the effective protection of [the woman's] rights as a possible victim of gender-based violence". "The credibility of her allegations appeared to have been assessed through prejudicial gender stereotypes and victim-blaming attitudes," it reads. The court also ruled that the mishandling of the case constituted a violation of the woman's right to a private and family life and awarded her €20,000 (£16,500) in damages and €5,000 (£4,100) in costs. Michael Polak, the woman's lawyer and director of the group Justice Abroad that has been supporting her, said: "This is a landmark decision for victims of sexual violence. "The ruling reinforces the fundamental principle that allegations of sexual violence must be investigated thoroughly and fairly, without institutional obstruction." Speaking to Sky News, he added: "This will help in vindicating what she has been saying all along, but of course these offences leave lifelong scars. "So obviously we welcome the decision, but it's a pity we had to take it all the way to the European Court of Human Rights to get some form of justice." He said that there was now an "obligation" for Cypriot authorities to "do the right thing" and launch a fresh investigation into the original rape claims, which the legal team says should be carried out by a separate police force. Justice Abroad has previously argued Cypriot authorities had failed to secure the crime scene and did not use DNA evidence from a condom with her blood on it - or evidence from the suspects' phones. During her previous appeal, the Supreme Court heard a forensic linguist also concluded her retraction statement was written in "Greek English" and therefore unlikely to have been written by her - and that a pathologist was of the view her injuries were consistent with gang rape. Her lawyers also pointed out the judge had repeatedly shouted "this is not a rape trial" as she gave evidence. The case sparked concern about fair trial guarantees in Cyprus, with the Foreign Office vowing to raise the case with authorities there, and protests being held in support of the woman in Cyprus and London. All 12 of the original suspects were freed without charge and allowed to return to Israel. They denied the allegations against them. The Cypriot authorities have also denied any wrongdoing regarding to their investigation.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Yahoo
Cypriot police 'failed' Briton in gang rape case
Cypriot authorities mishandled their investigation into the case of a British woman who was found guilty of allegedly lying about a gang rape attack before her conviction was overturned, the European Court of Human Rights has concluded. The woman, then 19, told Cypriot police she had been raped in Ayia Napa in July 2019 but retracted the allegation after being held without a lawyer. The court found "the Cypriot authorities failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant's complaint of rape and to adopt a victim‑sensitive approach when doing so". It awarded the Derbyshire woman €20,000 in damages and €5,000 in costs. The court found Cypriot authorities breached article 3 - protection from torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment - and article 8 - the right to respect for private and family life – of the European Convention on Human Rights. The woman originally told police she had been raped by 12 Israeli men and boys. After the retraction she was tried and convicted of causing public mischief and given a suspended four month sentence. This was overturned at the Supreme Court in Cyprus in 2022 on the grounds the original conviction for public mischief was unsafe. The case outraged women's rights campaigners who felt the woman had been treated like the accused rather than a victim. Justice Abroad, which has represented the woman, known as X in court, through the process, welcomed the verdict. Its director, Michael Polak, said: "This is a landmark decision for victims of sexual violence. "The ruling reinforces the fundamental principle that allegations of sexual violence must be investigated thoroughly and fairly, without institutional obstruction. "Following our victory in X v Greece, where the court found that Greek authorities had failed to uphold the rights of a rape victim, this case further strengthens the procedural protections for victims of sexual violence in Europe. "By holding that Cyprus was in breach of the rights of our client, we hope that the court's decision will cause the Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus to reconsider his decision and order a proper investigation using outside investigators. "A proper framework for the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences needs to be developed urgently in Cyprus. "Our client has shown immense resilience in her pursuit of justice, and we hope this outcome will empower others to speak out against such offences and demand accountability from authorities." Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
