Cyprus attorney general appeals after Israeli men cleared of gang raping British tourist

The attorney general of Cyprus has appealed against the acquittal of five Israeli men accused of gang raping a British tourist on the island.

The woman, then 20, said one of them forcibly took her to his hotel room before the others joined the attack during a pool party in the popular holiday resort of Ayia Napa on 3 September 2023. All five of the men, then aged 19 and 20, denied charges, including rape, sexual assault and abduction and have returned home after they were cleared by three judges after a trial which finished at the end of last month.

The court decision cited contradictions in the woman's testimony concerning the identification of the alleged attackers. But the country's attorney general George Savvides has confirmed to Sky News he has filed an appeal against the court's decision.

The woman's lawyer Michael Polak said the intervention means the acquittals could eventually be reversed and the men found guilty in the court of appeal. "Obviously she was very disappointed with the acquittals of the men after bravely travelling back to Cyprus to give evidence," he told Sky News.

"The decision of the attorney general to appeal their acquittals is welcome. "The appeal process in Cyprus is long and slow but she still hopes to achieve justice at the end of the process." The acquittals came just weeks after a European Court of Human Rights criticised the Cypriot authorities over their handling of the allegations of another British woman who alleged she had been gang raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists.

The case caused international outrage when the then 19-year-old was convicted of "public mischief" after she retracted the allegations. She said she was forced into withdrawing the claims and her conviction was eventually quashed at the Cypriot Supreme Court which found she did not receive a fair trial.

The judge who had overseen the initial trial was one of the judges who acquitted the five Israeli men in the latest case. Mr Polak, who also represented that woman said: "There were many promises after what happened in the first case, including from Cypriot parliamentarians, but none of them seem to have had any impact." In the latest case, the woman, who is openly gay, told police one of the men grabbed her by the hand as she was partying with friends and took her to his room before the others entered.

Mr Polak, who is director of the Justice Abroad organisation, said her family was "shocked" by suggestions she had consented to have sex with the men, who didn't even speak the same language as her. He said the now 21-year-old woman, who is from Scotland and retuned to Cyprus to give evidence over four days in a closed court in Paralimni, was "really shocked, sad and distraught" after the verdicts.

The judges said the woman's initial statement to investigators contained "weaknesses," which weren't "out of the ordinary" under the circumstances, according to reports of the announcement of the acquittals. The court said the woman was under the influence of a "significant" amount of alcohol and the drugs MDA and MDMA.

But it found the quantities in her system weren't enough to "remove her ability for consent" since she testified that she only felt "a little dizzy" after consuming the alcohol and drugs. A lawyer representing the men has been contacted for comment..