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At the least 14 Cypriots had been tortured then murdered by UK forces throughout an armed rebellion within the late Nineteen Fifties, in accordance with newly unearthed proof that raises recent questions over one other surprising chapter of Britain’s colonial historical past.
Testimony from British veterans and Cypriot insurgent fighters, together with postmortem and morgue data, in addition to beforehand undisclosed materials from Cypriot archives, recommend that the victims died after being interrogated by UK officers. The lifeless, all males aged between 17 and 37, had been arrested on suspicion of being a part of the Nationwide Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, a paramilitary organisation often called EOKA, which orchestrated a guerrilla marketing campaign to overthrow British management in Cyprus.
Pictures from the Cyprus Nationwide Archives corroborate indicators of torture on their our bodies. In some circumstances, the photographs seem to indicate mutilation of the genitals.
A witness to one of many deaths stated: “I noticed the troopers pulling Nicos [Georgiou] out of his cell, nearly unconscious, with foam popping out of his mouth. He was making an terrible sound like a lion growling as he lay dying. They let him die on the cement outdoors.”
Though claims that the British army used torture throughout their occupation of Cyprus have circulated for years, it’s the first time that UK forces, together with its intelligence providers, are accused of a marketing campaign of extrajudicial killings throughout the 1955 to 1959 rebellion.
In 2019, the UK authorities paid £1m damages to 33 Cypriots who alleged they had been tortured by British forces. Amongst them was a woman, 16 years previous on the time, who stated she was repeatedly raped by troopers.
Though the federal government insisted the payout was not “any admission of legal responsibility”, the recent particulars will sharpen scrutiny over the true extent of atrocities dedicated throughout the marketing campaign to finish British colonial rule on the Mediterranean island.
The brand new claims function in a guide, 14 Crimes of Empire, printed in Greek, which investigates the circumstances behind the deaths of the 14 males.
Elina Stamatiou, the Cypriot creator who spent three years investigating the deaths, stated the UK authorities wanted to acknowledge its position of their destiny.
“Justice have to be served. I additionally assume that an official apology to the households of those victims could be essential, even when it comes 65 years later. The households’ wounds are nonetheless open,” she stated.
In what was often called the Cyprus emergency, EOKA launched an insurgency towards British authorities who insisted that the island ought to “by no means have self-determination”.
In response to the riot, Cyprus was flooded with hundreds of British troopers in an in the end futile try and crush the island’s hopes of independence. Some 371 British troopers died, in contrast with round 90 EOKA fighters.
Amongst them was Georgios Christoforou, 18, who was arrested within the metropolis of Paphos in 1958. Fellow detainees witnessed him being escorted right into a British interrogation room and rising along with his “face lined with blood and he couldn’t stroll”. One recalled “moaning and noises” coming from the room and later heard Christoforou screaming.
One other witness testified that he heard {the teenager}’s interrogator say: “If you don’t inform us the reality, we will kill you.”
Pictures of Christoforou within the morgue present his face bloodied and disfigured. Scientific paperwork present that he died from inside accidents on 22 November “while in custody from accidents on account of a blow or fall or another type of violence however there is no such thing as a proof to indicate when, the place, how and in what method he obtained the accidents which prompted his dying”.
One of many youngest of the 14 males allegedly killed in detention by the British was 17-year-old Lucas Louka, an EOKA member who died within the metropolis of Famagusta in 1958 after what seems to be a brutal beating from an English army police officer.
Pictures from the morgue point out indicators of baton strikes on his again, with the deadly blow on the left facet of his head. A good friend of Louka’s stated he noticed him being “assaulted” by a British army captain. One other noticed {the teenager} attacked “with a heavy rod” by the identical officer. The good friend added: “He began beating the deceased in every single place, on the top, physique. I noticed Louka mendacity on the mattress and the captain beating him.”
Veteran EOKA fighter Michalakis Moustakas described how Nicos Georgiou, 37, who was arrested within the village of Platres, died in detention. Held in a cell subsequent to Georgiou, Moustakas stated they had been pressured to sleep bare on cement, had been fed urine, repeatedly overwhelmed and dragged by their genitals.
The witness, now 86, stated he watched Georgiou being dragged out of his cell with foam coming from his mouth. “Each evening after I go to mattress, I can nonetheless hear his growling sound whereas dying,” stated Moustakas.
Pictures taken within the morgue present Georgiou’s physique lined with bruises together with head accidents.
British veterans who served in Cyprus have additionally provided accounts that contradict the UK’s official model. A senior officer wrote an account of the dying of EOKA member Spyros Hadjiyiacoumi. The late main Michael Stourton tried to boost his issues over the torture of the 27-year-old father of 4 at a British interrogation centre within the city of Kythrea. His efforts to flag the difficulty had been quashed by Ministry of Defence censors who erased the chapter from the official historical past of the Grenadier Guards.
Two different EOKA members who had been tortured in the identical hut as Hadjiyiakoumi however survived informed how British interrogators positioned a metallic bucket on their heads and struck it, and stabbed their ft with a bayonet. The coroner’s report from the time claimed the accidents “had been prompted throughout an unsuccessful try to flee from lawful custody”.
One other British veteran additionally provided key proof into the dying of one other of the 14 – Andreas Panayiotou, a 31-year-old EOKA member who died in a Platres resort requisitioned by the British military. Brian Robertson, 85, who served in Platres with the Gordon Highlanders from October 1955 to December 1956, stated {that a} good friend known as Kevin Taylor, who served within the army medical inspection room, informed him {that a} detainee had died after being tied up in a freezing water fountain all evening.
Robertson, from Aberdeen, stated the chief physician was apparently horrified and refused to signal the dying certificates, forcing the officers concerned to summon one other physician from the Cypriot capital, Nicosia. “They needed to get one other previous military physician to signal the dying certificates. I’m sure the British did have interaction in using torture,” Robertson stated.
Two of the our bodies of the 14 males recognized by Stamatiou are nonetheless lacking and are believed to be secretly buried. British accounts state that each males managed to flee from detention, although neither has been seen since.
One among them – 27-year-old Nicolaos Yiangou – was final seen being pushed away in a black Morris minor automobile after being interrogated by British secret providers, police and troopers.
The British army continues to function two bases in Cyprus, one near town of Limassol and one in Dhekhelia.
The International Workplace referred its present place to a 2019 assertion from then International Workplace minister Alan Duncan which stated that the “passage of time implies that it’s now now not doable to determine all the details with certainty.” It added:
“The UK authorities acknowledges the strongly held views of many Cypriots in regards to the emergency” and stated that the violence was a “matter of remorse.”
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