The British woman is preparing to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), after the reversal of the sentence for public damage after a false complaint. This is the British woman, who claimed that she was raped in an apartment complex in Ayia Napa by a group of young Israelis.
It is recalled that with a multi-page decision, the Supreme Court overturned the first instance decision of the Famagusta District Court, pointing out the mistakes, weaknesses and omissions on the part of the Judge, M. Papathanassiou, the Police and the Prosecution Authority.
Although it was stated by its legal team that it would have appealed to the ECtHR if the conviction had not been overturned, its lawyers eventually decided to take the Republic of Cyprus before the European Court of Justice due to the Attorney General's refusal to reopen the case.
The head of her legal team, Michael Polak, told DailyMail that: "After the sentencing was overturned, the girl and her family hoped that the Cypriot authorities would reopen the case for justice, but decided to do not do that and this has disappointed us.
The decision of the Attorney General was taken after the successful appeal of our client to the Supreme Court of Cyprus where this Court not only exposed many legal failures in the case against her but also highlighted the procedural failures in the investigation of her rape complaint.
In Cyprus, the decision of the Attorney General to initiate or terminate criminal proceedings is not subject to any appeal or review. "Therefore, there are no domestic remedies for our client to challenge the Attorney General's decision not to order a proper investigation into the rape complaint."
He went on to say that "we remain determined to do justice to our client and bring about change so that victims of sexual offenses can be treated fairly in the Republic of Cyprus in the future." This remains an elusive goal and, as far as we know, the Government of Cyprus has failed to review positive changes to protect victims of sexual misconduct since the Supreme Court ruled in January 2022.
"We are confident that the European Court of Justice will acquit us and we continue to encourage the Advocate General to reconsider his decision in this case."
According to DailyMail, a representative of the Attorney General in Cyprus declined to comment and said only: "The Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus notified her decision to the British lawyer. "With that in mind, we can not comment further."
Source: sigmalive