(Reuters) – Cyprus failed in its legal duty to investigate a British woman’s allegation in 2019 that she had been gang-raped by Israeli tourists on the holiday island, the European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday.
The woman, who was 18 at the time and is identified in court documents as “X”, reported being raped by Israeli youths in July 2019 in the resort of Ayia Napa.
However, after hours of police interrogation without legal representation, she retracted her statement – which she later said she had done under duress. She was charged with “public mischief” and handed a suspended jail sentence.
In its ruling, the ECHR agreed with “X” that Cyprus had breached its obligations to effectively investigate and prosecute her allegations.
After her retraction, the youths were released from detention and returned home without facing further legal action. Some said they had had consensual sex with “X” but all denied rape.
In January 2022, Cyprus’s Supreme Court overturned the woman’s conviction, upholding her assertion that she had retracted her allegation under pressure, casting a harsh light on Cypriot practices in investigating sexual abuse.
Despite that ruling, Cyprus’s attorney-general declined to reopen an investigation into her original complaint, her lawyers said.
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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