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'DEEPLY DISTRESSING'
Foreign Office ‘concerned’ over Ayia Napa Brit, 19, found guilty of lying about gang-rape as mum slams verdict
THE Government has said it is "seriously concerned" about whether a teenager convicted of lying about being gang-raped in Ayia Napa had a fair trial.
In a rare statement, the Foreign Office said the UK will raise the issue with Cypriot authorities after the 19-year-old woman was convicted in Paralimni on Monday.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The UK is seriously concerned about the fair trial guarantees in this deeply distressing case and we will be raising the issue with the Cypriot authorities."
It comes as the mum of the teen slammed the verdict as "absolutely astonishing".
She added the family are "very disappointed" after the 19-year-old was convicted today, and now faces a year up to jail.
The judge said the teen invented claims she had been raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists as she was "embarrassed" to have been filmed having sex.
Her mother told ITV News: "It's a bit of a nightmare. I find myself kind of unable to believe the violations of human rights she's experienced throughout the whole affair, particularly things like having no access to lawyers whilst being interrogated for hours on end over a Saturday night. I think that's very bizarre.
ASTONISHING
"It's also astonishing to me that the Israelis that were originally accused of the crime had legal representation within a matter of hours, whereas my daughter wasn't offered legal representation at all throughout the whole thing. She asked for a lawyer, didn't get one... so, absolutely astonishing verdict, really."
She is on bail but cannot leave the island, having already been held for around a month in prison on remand.
Her mother said: "It would be an absolute injustice if they decided to imprison her for any more days, she's already spent four and a half weeks in prison, actually in prison with prisoners that were guilty of crimes and so on, and she has spent nearly six months in Cyprus unable to have any kind of life, any kind of social life.
"OK, so she's not in prison but she's still effectively in a gilded cage."
The teenager's lawyers have said they will appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court in Cyprus and in the European Court of Human Rights if that fails.
'A NIGHTMARE'
Her mother said: "She is resolute to see justice, she's absolutely resolute that she'll fight it, she wants to appeal and I will fully support her 100 per cent, as will her lawyers, so we'll continue on with appeal and go down that route - if we end up in the European Court of Human Rights, that's great."
She said her daughter is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which cannot be treated in Cyprus.
The teen today vowed to appeal as supporters said the Cyprus police and courts had "raped her again and again".
Lawyers and campaigners blasted the Cypriot legal system today amid claims police were biased against her because of other Brit tourists' rowdy antics in party resort Ayia Napa.
It comes after the girl told officers she was pinned down and raped by up to a dozen youths who burst into a hotel room while she was having sex with their pal in July.
Twelves Israeli cadets were arrested but released without charge when cops decided she made up the attack out of revenge after X-rated footage of her was posted online.
GUILTY VERDICT
Ten days later she retracted her rape allegations - but said that was under duress after eight hours of "aggressive" police questioning without a lawyer.
Today at the end of a four-month trial, judge Michaelis Papathanasiou slammed her evidence as "unreliable" and ruled she had repeatedly lied.
He said she "only told the truth when she admitted to being humiliated" by the video.
And he added: "She knows that she was never raped and she gave false statements.
"The guilt of the accused is proven. She confessed her guilt."
The teenager shook her head as she was found guilty of public mischief at Famagusta District Court. Her mum wept beside her.
And the girl reacted angrily after the judge said he would pass sentence on January 7.
Her lawyer urged her to keep quiet as she shouted:"Why do I have to wait. Why can't we do this now? He has found me guilty."
Later as the girl and her mum left court they wore "stitched lips" masks over their faces and gave a thumbs up to supporters who shouted "We believe you".
Around 20 members of activist group Network Against Violence Against Women had packed into the court and wore the same masks for a protest outside.
Campaigner Maria Mappouridou told The Sun: "The girl’s mother asked us for the mask.
"It symbolises she has been prevented from speaking and the truth has been squashed.”
The girl has not been allowed to leave Cyprus since the alleged attack in July and spent a month in jail before being bailed to a safe house on the island. She could be jailed for a year and fined £1,500.
Her lawyer Ritsa Pekri told The Sun: "My client is obviously very upset by the decision but we had prepared her for it.
"We told her to prepare for the worst outcome but we will be appealing.”
But Nir Yaslovitzh who is representing some of the Israelis she accused, said: "I applaud the court's decision to convict the girl.
"I hope that the court will find it appropriate to aggravate the punishment imposed on the girl who refuses to this day to take responsibility for the horrible act she has done against the boys."
'IMAGINARY CRIME'
The teenager was a week into a working holiday in Ayia Napa before starting university when she claimed she was attacked in July.
She went from victim to accused after cops said she made up the rape claim because she discovered footage of her having sex with one of the group had been posted online.
During her months-long trial, she claimed police bullied her to retract her statement while she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
A defence forensic pathologist, Dr Marios Matsakis, said he was adamant "violence was exercised" and injuries on her body were "consistent with the rape having taken place".
But in his closing speech, prosecutor Adamos Demosthenous said the sex attack was an "imaginary crime" that never took place.
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Alexandra Patsalides, a human rights lawyer at campaign group Equality Now, said the girl's treatment by the Cypriot police, the criminal justice system and local media was "extremely problematic".
She said: "It is the duty of the investigators and the prosecution to thoroughly examine the circumstances of each case in an impartial manner and not base their decisions on negative gender-based stereotypes, or, as appears in this instance, pejorative attitudes about young people who visit Ayia Napa.
"Finding her guilty while there remains the need for thorough investigations to be made regarding the alleged rape, procedures followed by authorities and the young woman's treatment in custody, represent a serious failure of Cyprus's legal system to pursue justice and to be seen to be doing so.
"We call for a thorough assessment and evaluation of the way the authorities have conducted their investigation throughout this case and their treatment of the young British woman."
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The girl was staying at the Pambos Napa Rocks Hotel at the time
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British teenager accused of ‘rape lie’ in Ayia Napa arrives at court ahead of her trial as lawyer reveals she is 'traumatised'
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