A group of 33 Cypriot men and women in their 80s demanding compensation from the British Government over allegations of torture will have their case heard in the highest court. Papers were lodged in the UK Supreme Court on Friday last week arguing that British law should apply to the case, which the Government had been hoping to be heard under Cypriot law. The men and women claim they were tortured during the Cyprus Emergency between 1955 and 1959 which saw a battle between nationalists and British colonial forces. Member of the Justice Committee in the Commons MP Bambos Charalambous MP today called for the Government to settle the case.
He told Metro.co.uk: ‘The Government was well aware of the work of Special Branch and knew their methods involved torture. ‘Let’s be clear though — the vast majority of British forces serving in Cyprus during the Emergency were upstanding. ‘This is absolutely not a witch-hunt against well-meaning squaddies facing very challenging circumstances and sometimes literally explosive situations.’ The UK’s second ever Cypriot heritage MP added: ‘But there were a small number of soldiers who committed vile acts of brutality. It was torture, plain and simple. It seems that these actions were sanctioned and sponsored by the Government of the day.’ ‘The Government now needs to settle the legal case currently progressing through the High Court as a matter of principle and draw a line under the atrocities that happened as part of Britain’s Colonial past.’
This week it emerged those carrying out the torture were mostly Special Branch officers working on behalf of the colonial police and not the British Army. Allegations of torture during the Cyprus Emergency were even revealed by Brigadier Michael Harbottle in an interview with the Imperial War Museum in 1988, he said: ‘The work of the Special Branch I could never condone. ‘I’m talking of torture. And there was torture.’ The British Government is fighting a claim from the elderly Greek Cypriots, who allege they were tortured by British soldiers and security services when they were youngsters during the Cyprus Emergency between 1955 to 1959. High Court papers from the case allege the Cypriots were tortured by having cigarettes stubbed out on their rectums, simulating executions and using a metal contraption that caused eyes to bleed,
The Government paid out nearly £20 million in costs and compensation to more than 5,000 victims of colonial rule in Kenya during the Mau Mau revolt in the 1950s and 1960s. The Cypriot claimants, all in their 80s, want the Government to follow the Kenyan example and settle out of court. One of the claimants was beaten so severely by British soldiers that he lost a kidney.
Source:: https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/13/cypriot-torture-victims-will-have-case-against-uk-government-heard-in-supreme-court-8135331/?ito=article.amp.share.top.twitter?ito=cbshare