Woman convicted of Cyprus rape lie appeals the verdict
A BRITISH woman convicted of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus launched an appeal yesterday.
The 21-year-old student, of Derby, was 19 when she was given a suspended sentence for public mischief.
She had told police she was attacked by a group of 12 Israeli tourists in Ayia Napa – but was put on trial after signing a retraction. She has vowed to clear her name, arguing she was pressured into withdrawing the allegation.
Protesters with banners reading ‘end rape culture’ and ‘I believe her’ gathered outside the Supreme Court in capital Nicosia during the two-hour hearing to overturn the conviction.
Adamos Demosthenous, for the Cyprus attorney general, unsuccessfully argued the appeal should not be heard because the Brit had criticised the trial judge in a documentary.
The woman’s lawyers said her retraction statement should never have been admitted into evidence because it was made by a vulnerable teenager who had spent almost seven hours in a police station without a lawyer. And
they argued the trial judge, Michalis Papathanasiou, did not allow the defendant to talk about the alleged rape – pointing to the seven times he said: ‘This is not a rape trial.’
Afterwards, her barrister, Lewis Power QC, said: ‘I think it was a very fruitful hearing. We cannot pre-empt the decision of the court, but we were glad to see the court had given much thought and considerable consideration to a very, very difficult case.
‘This is the biggest case here in the last decade and the world is watching.
It is so important for young women.’
He said the woman, who is in the UK so did not attend, ‘is very anxious about the result but she is fairly upbeat’.
The Supreme Court judges have not yet made a ruling. The young men and boys initially arrested denied any wrongdoing and were freed.