British teenager pleads not guilty over ‘false rape claims’ against Israeli men in Cyprus

A 19-year-old British woman who accused a group of Israeli youths of gang raping her in Cyprus has pleaded not guilty in court to charges of making up the accusation.

The young woman, who claims she was raped by 12 Israelis in the Cypriot party resort of Ayia Napa in July, has said she was coerced into signing a confession revoking the criminal complaint.

The teenager has been in prison for nearly two months in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia since being arrested and charged with “public mischief” – an offence carrying a prison sentence of up to a year.

Justice Abroad, a legal aid group providing help to the teenager’s family, say the young woman did not voluntarily withdraw the rape allegation.

A judge set the start of the trial for 2 October and released the woman on bail, having found it “proper and fair” to do so after she had spent nearly two months in police detention.

The woman, who cannot be identified unless she is found culpable, surrendered her travel documents to police and must appear at a Nicosia police station three times every week. She has also been placed on a stop list prohibiting her departure.

Her defence lawyers have said investigators used “oppression” to make her retract the rape allegation.

The young woman, who claims she was gang raped by the Israeli men, made a criminal complaint to police officers and the group were arrested on 17 July. But the teenager was detained on 28 July after police said she retracted the gang rape allegation.

Her alleged assailants, who are aged 15 to 18 and were on holiday in Cyprus, were detained and later released without charge. They denied any allegation of assault and have since returned to Israel.

They were reunited with their parents in Israel‘s Ben Gurion airport and were filmed chanting “am Yisrael chai” (the people of Israel live), and “the Brit is a whore”, according to The Times of Israel.

The young woman’s defence said they planned to write to the attorney general to ask for suspension of the prosecution.

Michael Polak, a British barrister who works for Justice Abroad, said the young woman was refused legal representation in spite of requests and in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. He claimed none of the proceedings carried out by Cypriot police were recorded.

“What in fact occurred was that the teenager was taken to the police station [where] she was asked to provide a further statement in regard to the rape allegations,” Mr Polak said in a statement earlier in the month.

“After providing a further written statement, the police officer told her that he believed that she was lying about the allegations and that he wanted to help her. He told her to write a confession and that if she did not do so he would arrest her friends in Cyprus for conspiracy.”

Mr Polak said the apparent confession was then dictated to her and investigators made clear she would be arrested if she refused to sign it but could go back to her hotel if she complied.

The barrister said: “Further pressure was placed upon her to write the confession despite her stating that she did not want to. The confession was obtained under oppression given the threats made ... she was not cautioned ... she was not given access to a lawyer as was her right under the Cypriot constitution and European Convention on Human Rights.”

He claimed the teenager had sent text messages to friends saying police were stopping her from contacting anyone else before being formally charged at 2.30am local time after eight hours of questioning. Mr Polak said: “[She] was not told that she could leave the police station nor given the option of leaving at any point.”

Cypriot authorities have strongly denied the allegation, and have claimed the teenager voluntarily admitted in writing to falsely accusing the Israelis.

The young women’s parents have launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for their daughter’s legal fees. So far it has received more than £23,000 in donations.

“In the early hours of Sunday the 28th of July 2019, following a week of traumatic events, our daughter was arrested for allegedly making a false allegation of rape in Cyprus and is currently being detained in prison awaiting trial,” the teenager’s parents say on the page.

“We maintain that the statement was given under duress and in breach of her rights, resulting in the collapse of the initial investigation and charges of public mischief being made against her. She is alone in a prison abroad after an awful series of events – we just want to bring her home.”