EU praise for probe into dancer’s death

THE COUNCIL of Europe has issued an interim resolution praising the efforts made by Russia and Cyprus following the landmark ruling against them in the case of the 20-year-old Russian dancer Oxana Rantseva.
The Council’s Committee of Ministers issued the interim resolution following its two-day meeting on September 14 and 15, on the execution of a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling last January, in which the two countries were condemned for violating anti-slavery conventions and the human right to life, freedom and security.
Cyprus was found guilty by the ECHR of failing on multiple accounts to protect Rantseva, who fell to her death in March 2001 while trying to escape from a fifth-floor Limassol flat owned by a cabaret-owner’s employee.
The case, brought before the ECHR by Rantseva’s father, Nikolai Rantsev, examined and found valid his claims of insufficient investigation of the woman’s death, both by authorities in Russia and Cyprus.
The decision unveiled painful truths about human trafficking on the island as it criticised Cyprus for its failure to develop a comprehensive immigration policy and uphold immigrant rights.
Legal experts said the ECHR decision revealed the need for an urgent re-examination of the trafficking policy, but also of the national immigration policy and practices in general.
The Wall Street Journal wrote at the time that the decision marked the first time the ECHR ruled that sex trafficking falls under antislavery conventions. The case was also deemed significant because of the specific directions given by the court on the responsibilities of national authorities in such cases.
Following the ruling, Cyprus overhauled its system of visas issued specifically for cabaret artistes, applying new rules to regulate the industry and make human trafficking harder.
Three criminal investigators were appointed to work on the re-examination of the 20-year-old’s death, including Yiannakis Agapiou, the former head of the police complaints authority who drowned last July.
In last week’s interim report, the Committee of Ministers highlighted the efforts made by the authorities in Cyprus and Russia to fully investigate the cause of death of Rantseva and combat of human trafficking.
According to the Cyprus News Agency, the Committee praised the decision taken by the Cypriot cabinet to set up an independent committee to look in to the causes of Rantseva’s death, led by the head of an independent authority, which was also mandated to investigate any link between her death and human trafficking.
The interim resolution also expressed the Committee’s satisfaction with information given by the Cypriot authorities regarding the case and the assurance that the system of granting visas to artistes had been abolished.
It also noted that the authorities in Cyprus and Russia have established a good cooperation to carry out an effective investigation of the case so that the guilty may be identified and brought to justice. 
The Committee will re-examine the case and any progress reports submitted by Russia and Cyprus at its next meeting in December.

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