A British woman who accused a dozen Israeli youths of gang rape two-and-a-half years ago won a legal victory in Cyprus Monday, after a court accepted her appeal.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Cyprus threw out the Famagusta District Court’s conviction of the young woman, who had been found guilty of lying to police in her accusations against the Israeli youths.
The Supreme Court accepted the 21-year-old’s claim that she was not given a fair trial, and that there was a “clear bias” against her in the Famagusta District Court in Paralimni.
“The judge at the District Court did not provide the defendant with a fair hearing and closed his mind to an essential element by continually shouting ‘this is not a rape trial, I do not want to hear about rape’,” the woman’s legal team wrote in her appeal.
Lawyers for the woman urged authorities in Cyprus to reexamine her original rape claims.
The case stems from an incident which occurred in the resort town of Ayia Napa on July 17th, after the woman met several young Israeli men at a hotel.
Police initially arrested 12 Israeli youths, some of them minors at the time, after the woman accused them of raping her. Later, police released five of the suspects, after it was proven they were not present at the time of the alleged rape.
During the course of the investigation, however, the woman recanted, admitting that only some of the 12 youths were involved, and that the relations had been consensual. In December 2019 she was convicted of public mischief.
After the conviction, however, the woman filed an appeal, claiming that she had been pressured by investigators to confess.