How the Cyprus ‘rape’ case has shone a spotlight on British expats

There was noisy support for the British teenager convicted of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus when she returned to court for sentencing on Tuesday. Yet among the swell of Cypriot and Israeli women’s rights activists waving placards and demanding justice for the young woman, one group was curiously absent – the island’s substantial expat community.

According to the most recent estimates, around 70,000 British expats live on the island, including part-time residents. They account for 14 per cent of the population. Yet, as one media observer noted, while a small group of women flew in from London, there appeared to be little or no representation from the island’s British community. 

On social media, however, it has been a different story with the Ayia Napa rape case providing a source of constant, and often heated, debate since news of the alleged attack broke in July. In fact, the popular Facebook group We Love Cyprus, that boasts close to 12,000 members, recently put an end to all discussion about it because there were “too many arguments”.

Mark John, one of three admins for the group, told TheArticle: “We Love Cyprus is open to everyone, but it’s mainly used by British expats and regular visitors to the island. The alleged rape case divided our members as much as anyone else. It doesn’t take long for blood to boil whenever the issue is raised. Those posts then get shared onto the forum and this week we had to say: enough is enough. 

“That’s not to say this isn’t a very important issue; it strikes to the heart of the island’s tourism, security and judicial system. I think some of our members have had their blinkers on because they feel protective over the island. Tourism is everything here, so that protective feeling becomes a powerful emotion when faced with images of ‘boycott Cyprus’.”

The 19-year-old British woman found herself in the eye of a political and media storm after claiming she had been gang-raped in a hotel room in Ayia Napa. The accusation resulted in the arrests of 12 Israelis aged between 15 and 22 years old. Ten days later, the teenager was asked to return to the police station to give another statement. Following eight hours of “aggressive” interrogation — without a lawyer present — she signed a retraction and was formally charged with “giving a false statement over an imaginary offence”. 

The woman spent about a month in prison before being granted bail in August. At 10pm on Tuesday, she finally returned to the UK – some eleven hours after she was handed a four-month suspended jail sentence for “public mischief”. Her defence team said they would appeal the conviction.

The trial caused an outcry in Britain and on the day of sentencing some 150 protestors converged on Famagusta District Court to show their support. “We want justice, we don’t want favours,” they chanted in response to rumours of a Presidential pardon being imminent. “If you cannot scream, we will scream for you,” they cried along with “Mr Judge, shame on you. Don’t you have a daughter, too?” 

Other supporters shared their feelings via the internet. In the comments section of the country’s only English-language national newspaper, the Cyprus Mail, some echoed the accusations of misogyny that had been levelled at the authorities, which they described as “stuck in the 1950s”. Other readers hoped that lessons might be learned, calling for “an urgent review of how rape cases are dealt with by the police and the courts”. 

But for every measured response, there were many more that weren’t, from both camps. 

Judge Michalis Papathanasiou was urged “to take a sabbatical”; Cyprus was called a “banana republic” and the authorities were vilified as “corrupt”. Those firmly on the side of the State denounced the concerns of “crusaders” and “feminist loons”, demanding that visitors respect the law or “pay the consequences”. The teenager was also branded a “slut” who should be “ashamed of herself”. A handful of men went so far as to name her, posting links to her photos as well as sites offering “facts” that promoted their fight against perceived misandry. Some even encouraged doubters to seek out the videos taken by the Israelis that night. 

Speaking on the steps of the court after sentencing, the teenager’s lawyer, Lewis Power QC, said his client had been trolled viciously on social media. Tony Theo, the admin of another Facebook site and the owner of a bar popular with expats in Coral Bay, Paphos, blamed a lack of transparency for overreactions. 

“The biggest problem with all of this is that it’s subjective, so it has become a case of feminists versus male egos and nationalists versus liberals,” he said. “The British news decided 100 percent that the Cypriot judicial system was flawed and the girl has been mistreated, which was different to what many people living here were hearing.”

Sarah Urwin, a counsellor and psychotherapist in the UK, who has been following the case, said the online reactions of the expat community were indicative of “shadow side behaviours” coming into play.

“What is becoming an international maelstrom offers plenty of opportunity for different groups to project and transfer their views, beliefs and perspectives,” she said. “Shadow side behaviours are in the mix, rather than empathy and care, especially through social media, and although social media doesn’t confer complete anonymity, there are few consequences for shadow side behaviours online.”

With the 19-year-old now planning to appeal the Cyprus court’s decision, it is unlikely the debate has come to an end among the island’s expats. But for many human rights campaigners, the fallout is huge.  

Magda Zenon, of the Cyprus Women’s Lobby, said: “There are invisible victims in all of this — those victims of rape who never spoke up because they were too embarrassed or too scared to speak, and who still carry the horror within them. What this case has reinforced is that we owe it to them and to future victims to continue the fight, to increase the pressure to change the system. We have to.”