Calls for tourism boycott to Cyprus adds to pressure to reopen rape trial
5992 Mins Read
Pressure is mounting on the Cypriot authorities to reassess the case of a British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang-raped as anger rises over the verdict.
Calls for a tourism boycott of the country were backed by the woman’s mother, who said Ayia Napa, the holiday resort in which her 19-year-old daughter said the attack took place, was unsafe.
The teenager said she was raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room on 17 July. But after she signed a retraction statement 10 days later, she was charged and a dozen men aged between 15 and 22 who had been arrested over the incident freed.
Her mother said the woman, who had been due to begin university in September, was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hallucinations and sleeping for up to 20 hours a day as a result of the condition hypersomnia.
During a five-month trial, the Briton claimed she had been forced to change her account under pressure from Cypriot police, telling the judge she was “scared for my life”. On Monday, she was ruled by a judge to have wilfully indulged in public mischief.
The teenager, who spent a month in Nicosia general prison before being bailed at the end of August, has been prevented from leaving Cyprus since July. She could face up to a year in prison and a €1,700 (£1,500) fine when she is sentenced on 7 January.
As one of the region’s most popular destinations, with an economy greatly dependent on the tourist industry, calls for a boycott have taken the affair to another level. UK tourists top the league tables of arrivals, and Politis, a leading daily, described the Mediterranean country as being “up against the wall”.
But while the government spokesman, Kyriakos Kousios, expressed sympathy for the Briton’s mother, he also described public reaction to the case as “exaggerated”.
