It comes after the woman’s conviction for public mischief was overturned on appeal by Cyprus’ supreme court on Monday (31 January).

Trigger warning: this article contains references to rape and sexual assault.

Lawyers representing a British woman who was convicted for lying about being gang-raped by 12 men and boys in Cyprus in July 2019 are demanding a fresh investigation after her conviction was overturned on Monday (31 January).

The woman, who cannot be named, spent four and a half weeks in a Cypriot prison before being allowed to return home to England, after she was found guilty of public mischief for revoking her allegations.

The now 21-year-old signed a retraction statement 10 days after she reported the crime following an interrogation by police, during which a lawyer was not present. She has since maintained that the officers involved forced her to revoke her allegations, and was pressured into saying she had lied.

The police officers involved in the case have vehemently denied all allegations of misconduct. 

Her team of English and Cypriot lawyers took her appeal to Cyprus’ supreme court in the capital Nicosia in September, which eventually led to her conviction being overturned on Monday on the grounds that the original conviction for public mischief was unsafe.

Now, they say they want a “proper investigation” into the woman’s original claims to take place following the supreme court’s acknowledgement that the police and courts made mistakes with their handling of the case.

“We hope it will be investigated properly like it should have been done in the first place,” Michael Pollak, a British human rights lawyer and one of the barristers supporting the woman’s case, told The Independent. “In short, they found the judge’s interpretation of the evidence was so bad they had to overturn his decision.”

The men who the woman accused of raping her – all Israeli nationals between the ages of 15 and 22 – were allowed to walk free after the then 19-year-old revoked her complaint. They denied all allegations against them.

In a statement issued in response to the court’s decision yesterday, the woman’s family said they were relieved the Cypriot authorities had “recognised the flaws in their legal process,” and called on the authorities to restart their investigation into the woman’s original claims.

“While this decision doesn’t excuse the way she was treated by the police or the judge or those in authority, it does bring with it the hope that my daughter’s suffering will at least bring positive changes in the ways that victims of crime are treated,” they said. 

“Of course, if justice is to be done, an authority would need to pick up on the evidence that was gathered in Cyprus and do with it what should have happened at the outset.”

The woman’s case has attracted widespread attention from around the world since it was first taken to court, with women’s rights campaigners appearing outside of court throughout proceedings, including when the conviction was overturned on Monday.

If you have experienced sexual abuse of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999. 

Images: Getty

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