If the verdict in the case of the 19-year-old British woman is wrong, this will be decided by the Supreme Court after the filing of an appeal before him, said today to KYPE the President of the Pancyprian Bar Association Doros Ioannidis.
The 19-year-old was found guilty yesterday by the Famagusta District Court for the crime of causing public harm, after her false complaint that on 17/7/19 she had been raped by 12 Israelis in Ayia Napa.
Asked to comment on the reactions to the verdict in the case, Mr. Ioannidis stated that "we can not challenge the court decisions in this way", noting that "the actions taken are wrong. An appeal is provided here. If the decision is wrong, there is the Court of Appeals to decide ".
"There is an Court of Appeal, you file an appeal and challenge it (the decision) in the Supreme Court. These are the procedures, otherwise we go beyond the concept of the rule of law and go to the trouble. That is why there is the next degree of jurisdiction which is the Court of Appeal and whoever thinks that the decision is wrong goes to the Court of Appeal ", he noted.
Asked about the legal letters to the Attorney General requesting the suspension of the criminal prosecution of the 19-year-old, Mr. Ioannidis said that this is a completely different matter, adding that it is the right of the Attorney General, based on the constitution, to terminate any criminal prosecution for reasons of public interest.
Mr. Ioannidis considered the request to be justified, saying that he himself was in favor of ending the criminal prosecution against the 19-year-old due to the fact that she was repeatedly tried by the media for an offense that has been virtually abolished in many countries, such as he said.
Asked if such a thing would constitute an intervention in a court proceeding since hers was in progress, Mr. Ioannidis replied: "In no case".
Given the registration of an appeal to the Supreme Court
One of the lawyers of the 19-year-old, Nikoletta Charalambidou, in her statements to KYPE, said that the filing of an appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court should be considered a given "we are just waiting for the sentence to be imposed on January 7 and then the appeal will be registered ». He said the appeal should be filed within ten days of the sentencing.
Asked what the reasons for the appeal will be, Ms. Charalambidou said that the legal advisers of the 19-year-old are still studying the multi-page decision of the court, saying that some reasons "are clear to us".
Ms. Charalambidou claimed that the rights of the 19-year-old were violated during the investigation stage, saying that the testimony she gave to the Police was made without the presence of a lawyer. She also said that her right to a fair trial was violated during the trial in court. "If we are not vindicated in Cyprus, the case will definitely reach the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)," he said.
According to Ms. Charalambidou, the 19-year-old entered the Police Station as a victim after a report of rape and came out as a suspect of another crime, in her expression, saying that the message that the state sends to women who are victims of rape or violence in general is not to file a complaint, because defendants may be found.
Ms. Charalambidou also claimed that the fact that a 19-year-old girl dared to report rape and question the way she was handled by the prosecuting authorities led to a punitive action against her, adding that the system "passed over her like a roller coaster". ».
Ms. Charalambidou, finally, spoke about a very difficult case because, as she said, the defense was not allowed full access to the investigation and the evidence in the rape case, despite the relevant request for disclosure of this material on the part of the defense. .
It should be noted that the "unexpected" intervention of the Foreign Office in the case of the sentencing of the 19-year-old Briton was attempted to be interpreted by the BBC journalist, James Landale.
It is recalled that a campaign was launched on twitter with the hashtag #BoycottCyprus, calling on the British not to choose Cyprus for holidays.
At the same time, the Attorney General of the Republic, Costas Clerides, states in his announcement today that any intervention in the criminal case of causing public harm with an accused young British woman "would be nothing but an obstacle to the verification of the facts and the case."
The Sun also hosts statements from the 19-year-old herself, who says she was not surprised by the decision based on how "from one moment to the next I found myself accused of being a victim".
Finally, the Government Spokesman made a statement on the case of the British citizen who is being tried before the Famagusta District Court.