Overview

• A Cyprus court acquitted five Israeli men accused of gang-raping a British woman, citing contradictions in her testimony as the key reason for the decision.
• The court ruled that the woman’s alcohol and drug consumption did not impair her ability to consent, a finding that has been widely criticized by women’s rights advocates.
• The British woman alleged she was forcibly taken to a hotel room and sexually assaulted during a pool party in Ayia Napa in September 2023.
• The case has reignited scrutiny of Cyprus’s judicial system, with critics citing systemic gender bias and inadequate support for victims of sexual violence.
• The acquittal follows a recent European Court of Human Rights ruling that Cyprus failed to effectively investigate a similar gang-rape allegation in 2019.