Defence to Appeal after Teenager Found Guilty of Public Mischief After Reporting Group Rape in Cyprus

JUSTICE ABROAD

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Defence to Appeal after Teenager Found Guilty of Public Mischief After Reporting Group Rape in Cyprus

Justice Abroad is assisting the British teenager and her family in this matter.  The case continued today, Monday 30 December 2019, at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni where the decision of the Court, finding the teenager guilty, was given.

The teenager is represented by an expert legal team assembled by Justice Abroad comprising of Lewis Power QC, a top barrister from Church Court Chambers at the English Bar of the senior rank of Queen’s Counsel, Cypriot lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, an experienced human rights advocate, and Ritsa Pekri, a criminal law expert.

At the previous hearing the Defence had submitted 32-pages of written arguments as to why the teenager should not be found guilty of the offence of Public Mischief as well as making oral submission to this effect. In summary the defence submissions contended that:

·       The teenager did not make a ‘false statement concerning an imaginary offence’ as required by s115 of the Cyprus Criminal Code as she was subject to rape on 17 July 2019;

·       The Court should not attach too much weight to the retraction statement given the circumstances in which it was given;

·       That the video taken on 17 July 2019 shows the defendant participating in consensual sex with one of the Israelis while others try to enter the room and the teenager tells them to leave and get out of the room;

·       That the blood found on a condom which had DNA evidence connected to the Israelis supported the teenager’s account of what happened;

·       That the witness statement of the Doctor at the Pambos Hotel who described the teenager as being in a distraught state when he examined her and the fact that it was not her idea to go to the Doctor, her friends took her there, and not her idea for the Police to be called, the Doctor doing this without any request to do so, does not support the contention that she made up a false rape allegation;

·       There was failure to investigate the communication data of the Israeli youths which would be expected in a proper investigation;

·       There was a failure to protect the scene of the crimes which is demonstrated by the fact that the press were able to gain access to the room directly after the incident and located a used condom which had not been seized by the Cypriot Police;

·       That the State Pathologist did not provide a history of the teenager or the events which would be expected in a diligent pathologist’s report, didn’t ask her to remove her top so her full body could be photographed as he should have, did not give the Court clear details about who carried out what examination and what they did, and failed to note bruises in his report which were visible on the teenager’s body;

·       That the Prosecution was in breach of the teenager’s Article 6 rights to a fair trial as a proper disclosure process was not followed in relation to all of the evidence collected by the investigators, she was not properly informed of her rights as a suspect and was denied access to a lawyer and other minimum guarantees of the right to a fair trial such as the right to translation and interpretation as required under both Cypriot and European law; 

·       That the evidence of expert pathologist Dr Marios Matsakis was compelling in that he stated that the State pathologist had not noted a number of the injuries on the teenager shown in the photographs, that the evidence of injuries tended to show that force was used against the teenager including pressure to her limbs, and that the blood in her vagina combined with the injuries caused alarms bells to ring and supported what she was saying about being raped; and

·       That the Prosecution had not brought any evidence as to what had taken place inside the hotel room as they did not call the Israeli men to give evidence and the only evidence before the Court as to what happened that night was that of the teenager.

Despite these compelling submissions and the requirement for the prosecution to prove that the teenager lied about being raped to the criminal standard, beyond reasonable doubt, the District Judge today found the teenager guilty of the offence. The sentencing in the case has been adjourned until 9am on 7 January 2020.

The Defence team will be appealing the District Court’s decision to the Supreme Court of Cyprus and from there to the European Court of Human Rights if the teenager cannot receive justice in Cyprus before the Supreme Court.

Justice Abroad’s Michael Polak stated the following:

‘Although the Defence team is very disappointed with the decision of the Court having put a lot of effort into the lengthy trial process and after bringing expert evidence before the Court we are not surprised by the result given the frequent refusal during the trial of the Judge to consider evidence which supported the fact that the teenager had been raped. Shutting down questioning from our Cypriot advocates and the production of evidence into the trial on a handful of occasions the Judge stridently stated ‘this is not a rape case, I will not consider whether she was raped or not’.  We have found it incredibly difficult to follow this logic given that an essential element of the offence is for there to be a ‘false statement concerning an imaginary offence’ and therefore, clearly if the teenager was raped, she cannot be guilty.

This will form a ground of appeal before the Supreme Court of Cyprus along with a number of other failings in the trial process which resulted in the teenager not receiving a fair trial before the District Court as guaranteed by Cypriot Law as well as both European Community Law and European Human Rights Law.

Despite the setback today, the teenager who has spent over a month in prison and 6 months where she has been unable to leave Cyprus is determined for justice to be done in her case as well as to help change the culture towards victims of sexual offences in Cyprus.

The elongated trial and the fight to obtain justice for the teenager which will now proceed to appeal which requires funding. The teenager’s family continue to raise funds by the Go Fund Me page www.gofundme.com/f/Help-Teen-Victim-Get-Justice-In-Cyprus and wishes to thank all those from the United Kingdom, Israel, and the rest of the world who have contributed to the fundraising campaign at what is a difficult and unexpected time for them.                                                                                                                                                                         

Notes to Editors

Justice Abroad, www.justiceabroad.co.uk  has been set up to help those trying to find their way through foreign justice systems with all the associated hurdles that presents. To help such families with these dilemmas and many more, three experts, Michael Polak, a barrister with an international practice focussed on the assistance of foreign nationals in trouble around the world, David Swindle ,  a former Detective Superintendent who has worked on hundreds of murders and complex high profile investigations in the UK and abroad during his 34 years in the police, and David Walters MVO, a former British Diplomat with over thirty years’ experience having served in over a dozen countries around the world, have pooled their extensive experience.  Justice Abroad is endeavouring to ensure that their client experiences a fair, transparent, and unbiased trial process in Cyprus.

Lewis Power QC is a barrister who was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990 and achieved the senior rank of Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 2011. He has a strong reputation for fighting difficult cases at trial and advising and advocating in matters with international and cross-jurisdictional elements.

Nicoletta Charalambidou is human rights lawyer with an expertise on European Union law and with a particular interest in victims and suspects rights in criminal procedures and discrimination in the administration of justice. She is also a member to the Legal Experts Advisory Panel of Fair Trials. 

Ritsa Pekri is a civil and criminal law lawyer working with Nicoletta Charalambidou LLC with strong experience in criminal cases and those matters involving human rights related issues.

Justice Abroad is also cooperating with KISA - Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism which is a national NGO active in the field of antidiscrimination and antiracism, including discrimination in the administration of justice and a human rights violations watchdog working in the field of victim and suspects rights under EU law.