Authorities “failed” a British woman who alleged she was gang raped by Israeli tourists in Cyprus, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.
The woman, who was 18 at the time of the alleged attack and is identified in court documents as “X”, reported being raped by up to 12 Israeli youths in a hotel room in July 2019 in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa.
However, after hours of police interrogation without legal representation, she retracted her statement – which she later said she had done under 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 legal duty to effectively investigate and prosecute her allegations.
In the judgement handed down, the court said: “The Cypriot authorities failed in their obligation to effectively investigate the applicant’s complaint of rape and to adopt a victim‑sensitive approach when doing so. Accordingly, the Court is satisfied that the applicant must be regarded as having suffered anguish and distress because of the authorities’ failure to effectively investigate her complaint.”
After her retraction, the youths were released from detention and returned home without facing further legal action. Some said they had had consensual sex with “X” but all denied rape.
In January 2022, Cyprus’s Supreme Court overturned the woman’s conviction, upholding her assertion that she had retracted her allegation under pressure, casting a harsh light on Cypriot practices in investigating sexual abuse.
Despite that ruling, Cyprus’s attorney-general declined to reopen an investigation into her original complaint, her lawyers said.
The case has drawn fierce condemnation from women’s rights campaigners around the world, who argue the woman has been treated like the perpetrator rather than the victim.
The woman has now been awarded €20,000 in damages and €5,000 in costs by the ECHR.
The court found Cypriot authorities breached article 3 – which states that no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – and 8 – the right to respect for one’s private and family life – of the European Convention on Human Rights.
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