Famagusta District Court Judge Michalis Papathanasiou said the defendant didn't tell the truth and tried to deceive the court with "evasive" statements in her testimony.
Papathanasiou said that the defendant admitted to investigators under questioning that she had lied and apologized. He said she made the claims up because she was "ashamed" after finding out that some of the Israelis had videoed her having consensual sex with her Israeli boyfriend on their mobile phones.
The woman told investigators that she had been raped by as many as a dozen Israelis aged between 15-20 on July 17. Cyprus police said she retracted the allegations 10 days later after investigators found what they said were inconsistencies in her statements. She said that she felt threatened by investigators while she was being questioned and that she feared she would be arrested if she didn't sign the retraction, adding that she "even feared for her life."
Outside of the court, Nicoletta Charalambidou, another lawyer on the British woman's legal team, said the conviction was expected and that an appeal would be filed to Cyprus' Supreme Court because defence lawyers feel that their client's rights to a fair trial had been "violated to a significant degree."
Michael Polak with the group Justice Abroad, which also helped defend the British woman, said the appeal will be based on the premise that there was evidence indicating that the woman had been raped, but that the judge refused to consider it.
If that’s true, she should serve as much time as the accused would have if he was guilty
Hopefully she faces extremely serious consequences for lying about such a serious crime
What did the doctor's report say exactly? An honest doctor would be able to tell if she was gang raped or not. How about getting the opinion of several doctors to make sure the courts get to the truth? Why are these reports so damn vague lately?
When do we start charging people for false rape claims? Or is that still taboo