The Supreme Court of Cyprus overturned Monday the conviction of a British woman found guilty of allegedly faking a claim that she was gang-raped in the island-nation.
The then 19-year-old British woman was found guilty in January 2020 of public mischief on grounds that she made a false claim of being gang-raped by 12 Israeli men in Ayia Napa in 2019. She was subsequently given a suspended sentence of four months in prison and a 140 fine.
The conviction was widely condemned by rights activists worldwide and received severe international scrutiny, with reports later coming out that the teenager was pressured into signing a retraction statement after eight hours of police interrogation without access to a lawyer or translator. A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK also issued a statement post the conviction expressing serious concerns “about the fair trial guarantees in this deeply distressing case” and noted that it will be raising the issue with the Cypriot authorities.
One month following the woman’s conviction, The Times of Israel published reports about the accused men receiving a “heroes welcome” as they returned to Israel loudly celebrating their release popping open champagne bottles and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” (the people of Israel lives) and “the Brit is a whore.”
Even though the woman was free to leave post the conviction due to the suspended sentence, her lawyer Michael Polak of “Justice Abroad” highlighted that she wanted to clear...
A man in his 30s has been referred to prosecutors for claiming on his social media account that the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising was a riot instigated by spies. The Daegu Dalseo Police Station...