Lawyer for British teen who accused Israelis of rape in Cyprus quits

A lawyer representing a 19-year-old British woman who faces a public nuisance charge for allegedly falsely accusing 12 Israelis of rape withdrew from the case on Wednesday because of a “serious disagreement” with his client.

Paralimni court judge Tonia Antoniou approved lawyer Andreas Pittadjis’s request to quit, and adjourned the case until August 19 to give the woman time to find a new lawyer.

The judge ordered that the woman remain in police custody until her next court appearance.

Pittadjis said his decision to resign was made after consulting with the woman and her family, but wouldn’t disclose the nature of his disagreement.

“I do not wish any longer to represent the defendant as I disagree with the line of defense,” Pittadjis said after the hearing. “Once there is a disagreement (lawyers) have an obligation toward the court, themselves and their clients to resign.”

The lawyer said he wasn’t aware whether the woman has appointed a new attorney to represent her.

Pittadjis’s resignation from the case comes amid British media reports that the woman claimed she was forced by Cypriot investigators to retract her original rape report.

A Cypriot law enforcement official denied the allegation, insisting the woman voluntarily admitted in writing to falsely accusing the Israelis, who have since returned to Israel. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

Pittadjis said his decision to quit the case shouldn’t be linked to how the woman would plead.

“Please do not interpret my resignation as whether she had to plead guilty or not guilty or anything, as this will be prejudicial to her defense and unfair to her as well,” he said.

Lawyers representing the Israelis said they would sue the woman for damages on behalf of their clients.

The woman originally told police that two of the Israeli suspects held her down by the arms as she cried to be let go. She said that their friends then raped her, taking turns, and that several beat her.

Cypriot police immediately arrested the group of Israelis, holding some of them for nearly two weeks until the woman recanted her claim during questioning, saying there had been consensual sexual contact with some of the suspects. The woman reportedly told investigators she filed the rape report because she felt “angry and insulted” when some of the Israelis recorded video of her having consensual sex with a number of them.

The woman, who if convicted faces up to a year in prison, later changed her story, claiming that law enforcement officers pressured her into admitting she had fabricated her initial report by denying her access to an attorney and threatening to arrest her friends.

Her British attorneys, who are affiliated with the Justice Abroad NGO, said they plan on fighting on the grounds that her confession to fabricating false allegations was coerced.

Pittadjis, the local lawyer who resigned, has previously stated that he believes that the distribution of the video was more serious than his client’s alleged false statement. Israel in 2014 became the first country to ban the distribution of so-called revenge porn in a bid to protect victims.

“Attorneys most often resign from representation in cases where there is mistrust or disagreement regarding defense strategy between the lawyer and client,” Israeli lawyer Nir Yaslovitzh, who represented several of the accused, told the Israel Hayom daily.

Pittadjis’s resignation shows that his client is lying, he claimed.