Authorities “failed” a British girl who alleged she was gang raped by Israeli vacationers in Cyprus, the European Court docket of Human Rights has dominated.
The girl, who was 18 on the time of the alleged assault and is recognized in court docket paperwork as “X”, reported being raped by Israeli youths in July 2019 within the resort of Ayia Napa on the vacation island.
Nonetheless, after hours of police interrogation with out authorized illustration, she retracted her assertion – which she later mentioned she had executed underneath duress. She was charged with “public mischief” and handed a suspended jail sentence.
In its ruling on Thursday, the ECHR agreed with “X” that Cyprus had failed in its authorized responsibility to successfully examine and prosecute her allegations.
Within the judgement handed down, the court docket mentioned: “The Cypriot authorities failed of their obligation to successfully examine the applicant’s grievance of rape and to undertake a sufferer‑delicate strategy when doing so. Accordingly, the Court docket is happy that the applicant should be thought to be having suffered anguish and misery due to the authorities’ failure to successfully examine her grievance.”
After her retraction, the youths have been launched from detention and returned house with out going through additional authorized motion. Some mentioned they’d had consensual intercourse with “X” however all denied rape.
In January 2022, Cyprus’s Supreme Court docket overturned the lady’s conviction, upholding her assertion that she had retracted her allegation underneath strain, casting a harsh gentle on Cypriot practices in investigating sexual abuse.
Regardless of that ruling, Cyprus’s attorney-general declined to reopen an investigation into her authentic grievance, her legal professionals mentioned.
The girl has now been awarded €20,000 in damages and €5,000 in prices by the ECHR.
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