So we are supposed to boycott Cyprus now.
The mother of a British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus has backed calls for a tourism boycott of the country.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she supported the campaign and that she believed the resort town of Ayia Napa was unsafe.
“The place isn’t safe, it is absolutely not safe. And if you go and report something that’s happened to you, you’re either laughed at, as far as I can tell, or, in the worst case, something like what’s happened to my daughter may happen,” she said.
The teenager said she was raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room in Ayia Napa on 17 July, but she was charged and a dozen young men aged between 15 and 20 who were arrested over the incident were freed after she signed a retraction statement 10 days later.
Why should we boycott Cyprus? Really?
I thought everyone knew that Ayia Napa has something of a reputation. Which is why when I went about twenty years go, I went to Paphos.
But we are getting the usual hysteria about this case. Apparently – correct me if I’m wrong – but I understand that there is video footage of the encounter that casts doubt on the rape allegation. If so, then that is why the investigation of rape was dropped. If there wasn’t rape, then the police rightly investigated the claims of rape as a false allegation – after all, false allegations have serious consequences for the accused.
The court has heard the case. Now the defendant is going to appeal the guilty verdict. Fair enough. That’s the system and more may come to light. It’s entirely possible that the investigation was flawed. It is also entirely possible that this is a classic example of rape allegations made in the aftermath of guilty feelings.
Either way, I see no case for boycotting Cyprus. I do see a case for instructing your daughters to behave with a degree of decorum – or sucking it up if they choose not to.
Oh, and just because someone claims to have been raped, it doesn’t automatically follow that they were.
I have no idea whether the girl was raped or not, but there are some concerns over her treatment by the Cypriot Police. There are EU guidelines regarding interviewing suspects, witnesses, or those making allegations. If taking place in a Police station, the interview should be recorded, either audibly or visually and audibly. If the reports are correct, the Cypriot Police chose to ignore this and the young woman’s interviews were not recorded. Why?
The interviews took place with no, or little, female Police presence. Again, this goes against EU guidelines for such occasions. Why?
Perhaps this is part of a Greek ‘machismo’ culture?
It was suggested that the video evidence was selectively edited, though there is no confirmation about this.
An ex Police colleague, who retired to Cyprus, but spent some time with the Police as a consultant, has mentioned that the Police often seem to make up their minds and fit the evidence around that, especially in allegations of sexual assault. If the tourist areas became known as rape hotspots, then tourists would not go there, and businesses would suffer, businesses possibly with family links. However, if the person making the initial allegation was shown to be making things up, then all is right with the world, the tourists will come and businesses will thrive.
He also mentioned that Israeli tourists seem to have a free pass when it comes to their behaviour in Cyprus and very few are ever charged. If true, whether this is for economic or political reasons is not known.
Personally, I prefer Northern Cyprus, which is more laid back. At least there, no one is trying to sell me property!
Time will tell here, I think. I’m keeping an open mind.
At best the whole “Boycott Cyprus” thing seems a little premature. Sure, girly has been found guilty but is appealing the verdict.
If sovereignty is supposed to mean anything, then surely it means that the Cypriot higher court get to review both the investigation and the trial to see if the accusations being made about this girl being “fitted up” have any bearing.
I have no idea whether the original allegations of rape were justified or not, since this appears little more than “He said” / “She said”, nor whether the Israeli’s “video evidence” is sufficiently compelling to not just exhonorate the guys, but justify them charging the girl with making a false accusation.
If the police have overstepped the mark then it is up to the Cypriot appeals process to highlight that, surely? Since they have a bit more understanding of how their judicial process is meant to work than some locked up jailbird’s mum.
That’s pretty much my take.
Give it a few months and this ” victim” will be a poster girl for the screeching left wing twitterati. She will be being interviewed every five minutes on women’s tv and prob end up on big brother or celebrity jungle next year.
If she’s not in gaol.
A jail term will make her even more marketable.
Not only is the weather lovely but it is a great place to buy the wonderful George Karelias cigarettes,
Brought a couple of thousand of those back from Corfu in September
Excellent choice Bucko !
It looks to me as if they might have different standards in Cyprus.
If this person had falsely reported a rape in the UK I suspect that the outcome would have been a lot less than in this situation.
Maybe we can learn something from that.
Will be interested to hear what got her convicted. Is it just the retraction or was that given because she is was shown other evidence and was hoping to avoid jail?
Even in relatively ethical jurisdictions confession evidence is considered to unreliable to wholly
trust. The UK Police and Criminal Evidence Act has a thing or two to say on the matter.
Even the nicest friendliest cops can accidentally extract a confession because the investigation process is inherently but not necessarily deliberately oppressive. Innocent but mentally vulnerable people find it so unpleasant they confess to make it stop.
This place frequently says, the process is the punishment.
Their could be shit loads of mobile phone footage or whatever that contradicts her original version of events of course and she got caught lying.
Media coverage remains mostly fact free.