Even though the woman was having sex with an Israeli friend of the suspects in that hotel room at the time, the court said investigators didn’t establish whether the suspects had secured her consent.
In its ruling released Thursday, the court placed particular weight on the failure of the authorities to determine whether the woman — who was 18 at the time of the alleged rape — had ever consented to having sex with some of the suspects.
“The Court observes that the present case reveals certain biases concerning women in Cyprus which impeded the effective protection of the applicant’s rights as a victim of gender-based violence and which, if not reversed, run the risk of creating a background of impunity, discouraging victims’ trust in the criminal justice system, despite the existence of a satisfactory legislative framework,” the ruling said.
In 2022, the Cyprus Supreme Court overturned the woman’s conviction, citing among other reasons that she didn’t have a lawyer present when police repeatedly questioned her and that the lower court misconstrued evidence, prejudicing proceedings against her.
The court said investigators appeared not to take into account the woman’s capacity to consent in light of testimony that she had consumed alcohol prior to the alleged rape and that traces of cocaine were found in her urine.
