Lawyer of woman cleared in Cyprus calls for probe, says judge quashed evidence

The lawyer of a British woman cleared by a Cyprus court of making false accusations against a group of Israeli teens that she alleged gang raped her is calling for an external investigation into what he says was “a trial process that was manifestly unfair.”

“We believe the next step for justice to be done is a full review and investigation of the case takes place by a different police force,” says Michael Polak outside the courtroom in Nicosia. “We have always maintained that our client was not given a fair trial, and today, the Supreme Court of Cyprus has agreed with us.”

His client, who was 18 at the time of her arrest, alleged that she was raped by up to 12 Israelis in a hotel room in the seaside holiday resort of Ayia Napa in July 2019, but her alleged attackers were eventually released and a district court in January 2020 convicted her of causing public mischief and handed her a four-month jail term, suspended for three years. She has not been named publicly.

Polak alleges that the judge in her trial had tried to suppress evidence in his client’s favor and had decided the case before the trial began. He says the defense was fighting “with one hand tied behind our back.”

“During the trial proceedings, our client was shouted at and treated with contempt, as were our female Cypriot lawyers who continued to put forward evidence supporting what our client was saying about the rape taking place, even when the judge sought to stop them from doing so,” says Polak, the director of the UK-based Justice Abroad advocacy group.

He calls the ruling “a watershed moment.”

“We hope now that vital safeguards, to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again in Cyprus, are put in place. Such as the recording of interviews in police stations. This must be done as soon as possible,” he adds.