Angelides: Calls for my resignation are a direct threat to justice

Deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides on Tuesday said calls for his resignation over a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that Cyprus had breached a woman’s human rights after she had accused a politician of rape are “a direct threat to justice”.

Giving a press conference flanked by Attorney-General George Savvides, he swiftly moved to justify his decision in 2021 to discontinue the prosecution of the politician, Disy Larnaca town councillor Andreas Ttaouxis.

“New evidence and statements had emerged, which we were obliged to evaluate. Instructions were given and there was communication with the victim. It was essentially decided to discontinue the criminal prosecution, which was registered with a rationale far removed from expediency,” he said.

He stressed that the ECtHR’s ruling was “a judicial decision which disagrees with the reasoning” he had given in 2021.

“The ECtHR did not find bad faith or abusive procedure of ulterior motives or intent to violate the rights of the victim. The ECtHR decision undoubtedly finds good practice for sexual violence cases,” he said.

He then said there were political motives behind calls for his resignation, saying that “unfortunately, however, and I must say it, we live in times where the headlines and the slogans are art and science to achieve other goals, and not [justice for] the victims.

“On the contrary, they expose the victims, individuals, families more and violate dignity,” he said.

It was then that he described calls for his resignation as a “direct threat to justice”, before adding that “those who, without even reading the decision, started to strike at me in an organised manner, are attempting to force the courts to decide in a specific way and are depriving them of their freedom of judgment.

“Will we ask for the judge’s resignation because he considered the victim to be unreliable?”, he asked, before stressing that the judiciary and the positions of attorney-general and assistant are “not expendable and are not available to the appetites of petty politicians and populist approaches.

“If I were a politician, taking responsibility would mean resigning, but I am not a politician,” he said.

Asked by a journalist if his conscience was clear over the matter, he said it was “absolutely clear”, before rejecting assertions that the prosecution was halted because Ttaouxis is a political figure.

He then added that the prosecution intends to refile the case, before stressing that he is “not pointing the gun at anyone”.

“I repeat that we must be careful because there are rights for everyone. They are demanding that the president dismiss me. Where is the independence of the institution? Does this right exist? I do not need to submit my resignation to anyone,” he said.

“If I decide to leave, I will leave the legal service. What does the executive branch have to do with this issue?”

Later, Savvides concurred with his deputy, decrying an “organised effort” to harm him.

“We are not here to be popular. We know that our decisions will not satisfy the majority of common knowledge. It is dangerous for an institution to try to navigate its course depending on how it will please the ears of the people. So long as I and Mr Angelides are here, we will not work based on popularity,” he said.

“I do not attribute motivation to anyone. I think there has been a lot of criticism of the legal service for a long time. This has brought unpopularity, and I say that this does not concern us. We will do our job no matter how unpopular we are.”

The ECtHR found that the Republic of Cyprus had breached the woman’s human rights as set out in articles 3, 8, and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The woman had reported that she had been raped in January 2011, when she was just 18 years old. However, later testimonies had, according to the legal service, raised doubts regarding the consistency of her version of events.

In December 2021, Deputy Attorney-General Savvas Angelides decided to halt the prosecution, with the woman then appealing that decision and eventually reaching the ECtHR, which awarded her €20,000 in damages and €15,470 in legal costs.

Angelides faced calls for his resignation over the weekend, with the woman herself calling on President Nikos Christodoulides to dismiss him and saying that Angelides “forever went down in Europe’s legal history as a sexist, victim blamer, incapable of guaranteeing basic human rights”.

The government has so far resisted calls to fire Angelides, with spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis insisting on Monday that the separation of powers between the executive and legal branches of government does not allow it.

“There is a constitution in the Republic of Cyprus which clearly defines [the legal service’s] independence, but also the separation of powers,” he said.