gang rape – www.israelhayom.com https://www.israelhayom.com israelhayom english website Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:15:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://www.israelhayom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-G_rTskDu_400x400-32x32.jpg gang rape – www.israelhayom.com https://www.israelhayom.com 32 32 Cyprus: Woman who falsely accused Israelis of rape gets 4-month suspended sentence https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/01/07/cyprus-woman-who-falsely-accused-israelis-of-rape-gets-4-month-suspended-sentence/ https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/01/07/cyprus-woman-who-falsely-accused-israelis-of-rape-gets-4-month-suspended-sentence/#respond Tue, 07 Jan 2020 10:44:45 +0000 https://www.israelhayom.com/?p=454313 A British teen convicted by a Cypriot court of falsely accusing a group of 12 Israelis of gang rape was given a four-month suspended sentence on Tuesday, The Guardian reported. The 19-year-old was also fined $150. She is expected to return to the UK later on Tuesday or Wednesday. Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and […]

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A British teen convicted by a Cypriot court of falsely accusing a group of 12 Israelis of gang rape was given a four-month suspended sentence on Tuesday, The Guardian reported.

The 19-year-old was also fined $150. She is expected to return to the UK later on Tuesday or Wednesday.

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"I have decided to give her a second chance," Judge Michalis Papathanasiou said, citing her age, psychological state, and dependency on antidepressants.

Last week, the teen was found guilty of having "willfully indulged in public mischief" by filing the false rape claim while on holiday in Ayia Napa in July.

The woman maintains she was a victim in the case. Her lawyer, Michael Polak, accused Cypriot authorities of a litany of rights failings and said that they would appeal the actual conviction in Cyprus' supreme court, stating that they will take the case to the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

British and Cypriot media outlets reported Monday that the woman will receive a presidential pardon if she is sentenced to prison.

Britain's Foreign Office has said it is "seriously concerned" about whether the woman received a fair trial, and the case has been taken up by rape survivors and rights groups, including in Israel.

Over 50 Israelis have flown to Cyprus to stand by the British woman.

An activist shouts slogans during a protest outside the Famagusta District Court in support of a British teenager, convicted of falsely accusing a group of Israelis of gang-rape (AFP/Iakovos Hatzistavrou)

"The minimum we can do is to be there to offer support, to show her that we believe her," Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, told The Guardian, adding that the protest was partly out of disgust that the "boys returned to Israel as heroes."

They demonstrated outside the Cypriot courthouse alongside local activists, shouting "Cyprus justice, shame on you," "stop blaming the victim" and "you are not alone," Sky News reported. Some held placards with the slogans "we believe you" and "don't be afraid."

The woman's mother says her daughter is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and hallucinations due to the trauma she has suffered from the case. That account was backed up by the report of a psychologist who evaluated the woman after the alleged rape and said her state of mind when she recanted the accusation was not properly taken into consideration during her trial.

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British woman pleads not guilty to falsely accusing Israelis of rape https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/08/27/uk-woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-falsely-accusing-israelis-of-rape/ https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/08/27/uk-woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-falsely-accusing-israelis-of-rape/#respond Tue, 27 Aug 2019 11:29:21 +0000 https://www.israelhayom.com/?p=410223 A 19-year-old British woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a Cyprus court to a public mischief charge for making what prosecutors say was a false claim that she was raped by 12 Israeli teenagers at a holiday resort on the east Mediterranean island nation. A judge set the start of the trial for Oct. 2 […]

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A 19-year-old British woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a Cyprus court to a public mischief charge for making what prosecutors say was a false claim that she was raped by 12 Israeli teenagers at a holiday resort on the east Mediterranean island nation.

A judge set the start of the trial for Oct. 2 and released the woman on bail, finding it "proper and fair" to free her after she had spent nearly two months in police detention.

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The woman surrendered her travel documents to police and must appear at a Nicosia police station three times weekly. She has also been placed on a stop list, prohibiting her departure. She posted bail of 5,000 euros ($5,500) in cash, while her father who was present in the courtroom guaranteed a bond of 15,000 euros ($16,600).

Her defense lawyers say that investigators used "oppression" to make her retract the allegation that she was gang-raped at an Ayia Napa hotel last month. Cypriot authorities strongly deny that the retraction was coerced, saying that she volunteered the statement in writing.

"The teenager's case is that she has not lied about being raped and the oppression was used by the Cypriot police in order to get her to retract her rape allegations," said Michael Polak, director of the group Justice Abroad which is assisting in the woman's legal defense.

"The purported retraction is unreliable because of what happened in the police station."

Polak said the defense team will present evidence at trial that the woman had not lied about being raped.

Five Israelis were initially freed on July 25 after no evidence was found linking them to the case. The remaining seven were released three days later after police said that the woman retracted the rape allegations.

Polak called the case a "test" of the Cypriot legal system's adherence to Cypriot and European conventions and said that defense lawyers would ask Cyprus Attorney General Costas Clerides to drop the case "after considering the facts."

The British woman's legal expenses are being funded by donations raised on an online platform.

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