Cyprus police have been in the spotlight internationally with a case of refusal to investigate a rape complaint made to them in May 2019 by a Scottish teenage girl. She is represented by the same law firm that previously defended a 19-year-old British woman convicted of lying about a rape by an Israeli group last summer in Ayia Napa.

The 17-year-old Scotswoman and her partner rested in the resort Protaras (Famagusta). The day before her flight back to Britain, she told the local police that she was raped by a hotel bartender. Three weeks after returning to Scotland, the girl contacted the British High Commission in Nicosia and learned that the Cyprus police would not investigate because the complainant did not ask for it. The victim then contacted the Scottish law enforcement officers, who took testimony from her and several witnesses. The teenager’s lawyer stated that the two Cypriot officers who interrogated her did not speak English well and had not hired an interpreter, and that medical assistance had not been offered to the victim.

The Cyprus police claim that they were informed about the incident by the hotel administration and that the girl did not file an official complaint and generally said she did not want the bartender to be held accountable because she “does not remember much”. It remains unclear whether the law enforcement officers have deliberately misunderstood the victim. The Famagusta police have already faced similar accusations of improper handling of a lawsuit for the gang rape of another young British woman in Ayia Napa (it was decided not in her favor, referred to the appeal instance).