New hurdle in Eoka vets’ fight against British government

The UK’s Court of Appeal overturned on Wednesday a previous decision by the Royal Courts of Justice which had ruled that the ongoing torture case by 34 Eoka veterans against the British government should be tried under British law.

According to CNA on Wednesday, the three-member Court of Appeal, under judge Andrew Longmore, ruled that “the decision of the [previous] judge that the British law and not the Cyprus law should be applied to the lawsuits will be forfeited.”

Kevin Conroy, solicitor of the 34 Eoka veterans seeking compensation from the British government on grounds of torture during the 1955-1959 insurgency, had sought for the case to be tried under British law, as it grants greater flexibility in the amount of time that has passed since the alleged crimes and the claiming of compensation.

The British government however had wanted to try the case under Cypriot law which has more discretion when it comes to limitations.

In a victory for the Eoka veterans, the Royal Courts of Justice had ruled in January 2018 that the case should be tried under UK law, a decision which has now been overturned.

In his ruling, judge Longmore said that the reasons behind the January 2018 decision “do not constitute the clear and satisfactory reasons required” to create an exception to the legal rule that states that “a particular issue that concerns a more general act should be dealt with by the law of the country which has the most prominent role in the issue and with the parties involved.”

Judge Longmore added that the issue of the time limit for claiming compensation will be judged on the basis of both national laws, as the British government had sought.

According to CNA, Conroy said that the Court of Appeal’s decision concerns a key technical point of law but not the substance of the case. He said that a request has already been filed with the Supreme Court in London against the overturning of the January 2018 decision.

The Supreme Court’s decision regarding whether it will allow an appeal to made will be announced at the end of January or early February, Conroy added.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.