The government repeated on Saturday that it would not interfere in the case of the British teen who is due to be sentenced on Tuesday for public mischief after being found guilty of making a false rape claim.
“It [involvement] would mean that we do not recognise and respect the judgement of the authorities. It would mean we have a government that intervenes and potentially guides our courts. This does not happen,” said the government spokesman Kyriacos Koushios.
Asked if the British government had been in contact with Cyprus over the controversial guilty verdict, Koushios said the UK had not communicated with the government. The only official announcement was last Monday when the the British Foreign Office said it was concerned over the verdict, he said.
Protests are being organised both in the UK and Cyprus over the 19-year-old woman’s sentencing for which she faces up to a year in jail.
The teen alleged she was raped by up to 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room in Ayia Napa on July 17, but has said Cypriot police forced her to sign a retraction statement ten days later which led to her being convicted of public mischief.
A protest is being organised outside the Cypriot high commission in London on Monday, the non-governmental organisation Gemini Project said on Saturday.
The march will start at 12pm (2pm Cyprus time) outside the high commission, pass by 10 Downing Street, the Foreign Office, and finish in Parliament Square, the organisation said.
The NGO also posted a link to the family’s crowdfunding campaign to pay for their daughter’s legal fees.
The family wrote: “We are seeking funds to pay for the required legal representation in Cyprus. The organisation Justice Abroad has already been providing assistance within the UK.”
The group will create a combined team of UK and Cypriot lawyers, to challenge ‘the many breaches of her rights’.
“This crowdfund will be administered without charge by a UK lawyer, John Hobbs, who will allocate the fund as required to appropriate costs directly related to defence of the public mischief charge. The crowdfund is being carried out in this way to protect the anonymity of our daughter who we believe to be the victim in this case,” the family wrote.
On Friday, the NGO Kisa in Cyprus also announced they will be holding a demonstration in support of the girl on Tuesday, the day of her sentencing, outside the Famagusta district court.
Kisa called on people to gather outside the court at 8:30am, to show support.
