Cyprus gang-rape trial of Israeli youths adjourned

Paralimni, Cyprus: A court in Cyprus on Thursday adjourned the trial of five Israeli tourists accused of gang-raping a young British woman after the defense argued they had not received all the available evidence.
The five men, aged 19 to 20 and from the Arab-Israeli town of Majd Al-Krum, appeared before Famagusta Criminal Court to face charges of rape, sexual coercion and abduction.
They had been held in custody since September 4 over the alleged assault of a 20-year-old tourist in the popular party resort of Ayia Napa.
Parents and siblings of the accused packed the small court room, anxiously mouthing words of reassurance to the stone-faced men who sported black and white T-shirts and close-cropped hair.
The defense has “not received the DNA report, the fingerprint report, photographs of the scene,” said attorney Maria Neophytou, who represents three of the defendants.
Nor had they been given the witness statement of a sixth person who was arrested and subsequently released without charge, she said.
Without them “there will be no fair trial,” Neophytou told AFP before the hearing, adding “I need the evidence” to prepare the defense.
The prosecution said on Thursday that the defense would receive the evidence within 48 hours.
The defendants were allowed to embrace their relatives after the court was adjourned, with one man bursting into tears in his mother’s arms.
The alleged victim did not attend and has returned to the United Kingdom.
The trial is scheduled to resume on October 16, when the men are set to enter their pleas.
Attorney Paris Louzou, representing the two other defendants, said they would not comment on whether the accused admitted to having any sexual contact with the victim.
Israeli media reported at the time of the arrests that the woman told police she was forcibly taken from a swimming pool to a hotel room, where she was raped.
Elleni Evagorou, an activist with the Pancyprian Federation of Women’s Organizations, attended the trial to show support for the alleged victim.
“It’s not the first time that in Cyprus we’re having this kind of trial,” she said. “It is a common problem in Cyprus, the sexual harassment of women, so we are here to stand against it,” she said.
A similar case four years ago in Ayia Napa caused uproar after the alleged victim was herself convicted of causing public mischief.
On that occasion, 12 Israelis were arrested after a British teenage girl reported that she had been attacked.
The Israelis were released after she retracted her statement, although she claimed that the police had pressured her into doing so.
The 19-year-old girl was given a four-month suspended jail term, but her conviction was quashed in 2022 by the Supreme Court.
Police later said they would examine whether mistakes had been made in the investigation.

Cyprus gang-rape trial of Israeli youths adjourned