5 Israeli suspects in Cyprus gang rape remanded in custody for another 6 days
Lawyer for sixth man who was detained and later released claims his client has video that will prove the innocence of his compatriots
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A court in Cyprus on Tuesday extended the remand of five Israelis who have been accused of gang rape by an additional six days.
According to the Cypriot news site Omega Live, three of the five defendants attended the proceedings at the Famagusta District Court, while the other two are being quarantined since they have tested positive for COVID-19.
The five suspects have been held for more than a week after a 20-year-old British tourist told police she was taken “by force” from the pool area of a hotel during a party, and then raped by several men in a room.
According to Israeli reports, the woman was able to pick out the suspects from a lineup and tell investigators what each one of them had done during the alleged sexual assault.
All of the suspects, aged 19-20, are from the northern town of Majd al-Krum. A sixth Israeli was also initially arrested, but was later released after police confirmed he was not in the room during the alleged assault.
The Kan public broadcaster reported that the man who was released and has since returned to Israel claims that he had video that would prove the innocence of the suspects being held. According to the man’s lawyer, he deleted the video in question from his phone, but is currently working to recover the file.
The woman told police that on September 3, she struck up a conversation with one of the suspects by the pool at the Federania Gardens hotel in Ayia Napa. The man then pulled her by the arm to the room, and when inside, tried to remove her swimsuit, she claimed.
According to Walla, the woman said she resisted, but two more men appeared and the three suspects then raped her. The woman said she heard other people entering and leaving the room during the alleged assault, but was not sure how many there were in total.
The woman said she eventually managed to escape to the room’s bathroom, where she locked the door, got dressed and began screaming for help, Walla reported. The suspects told her to keep quiet but she emerged from the bathroom and fled the room, found her friends and told them what happened. They then called the police.
Officers who were called to the scene found the woman in a “distressed state,” but she was still able to direct them to the room in the hotel, the Walla report said.
Investigators have removed evidence from the room, including sheets, and have examined both the woman and the suspects. DNA samples have also been taken from both the woman and her alleged assailants. Leaked reports of the investigation have said blood was found in the room and the woman had bruises and abrasions on her arms.
The woman has since returned to the UK and is being represented by Michael Polack of the Justice Abroad group, the same lawyer who represented another British woman who in 2019 accused a group of Israelis of rape.
Israeli attorney Nir Yaslovitz is representing two of the suspects. Yaslovitz was also involved in the 2019 case.
In that case, which made international headlines, the woman alleged that she was raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists, aged 15 to 22, in a hotel room in the seaside holiday resort of Ayia Napa. She was 18 at the time.
The Israeli teenagers and young men denied any wrongdoing and were eventually released from custody and allowed to return home. More recently, calls have grown for the rape case to be reopened.
Cyprus is a popular destination for Israeli tourists. Official figures for July show they were the second largest group of visitors, accounting for 10.2 percent, or more than 46,400 arrivals, second only to the United Kingdom, which made up 34.8 percent of arrivals.
AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.