VETERAN EOKA fighters will push ahead with legal procedures despite a controversial UK bill to stop the public disclosure of evidence for “reasons of national security”, one of their lawyers said yesterday.
Cypriots are determined to sue the British government for damages and an apology for torture during the fight against colonial rule, lawyer Christos Clerides said.
A British court has already ruled on the right of three Kenyans to pursue damages for torture in the 1950s, which “has paved the path for us to carry on,” Clerides said.
Because of the Kenya decision, two questions are answered: whether a law suit would be admissible in court and whether the court would admit a case dating back over fifty years, Clerides said.
Top secret foreign office files made available this year, have showed that EOKA fighters and civilians were brutally tortured between 1955 and 1959.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said it will make more documents available by September 2013 that will also need to be studied, Clerides said.
“We are being careful to ensure the cases will be strong,” he said.
Clerides confirmed that about 20 cases stood out, although about 60 individuals have detailed alleged abuses and said they are willing to go to court.
The Kenyan claimants are looking for an apology and funding for welfare benefits for Kenyan torture victims. One of their lawyers said last month following the British court ruling that “from Malaya to the Yemen, from Cyprus to Palestine,” colonial torture victims would surely be reading the court judgement “with great care”.
Clerides said that many of the Cyprus colonial administration files contain “admission of abuse” and could support a suit against the UK government.
But to complicate matters, the UK’s Justice and Security Bill aims to extend closed procedures allowing for secret courts for reasons of national security in civil cases. Amnesty International said in a recent report that, “as currently drafted the bill could potentially affect a much broader range of cases” despite claims it aims to deal with cases involving spies and national intelligence.
Cases it could affect could include negligence actions, civil actions against the police and torture claims by Cyprus and Kenya. Amnesty International said that because “national security” was not defined, it could be broadly interpreted.
The Guardian chimed in to question the motives behind the bill suggesting that some intelligence and security agencies would regard information that damages their reputation to be a threat to national security.
The bill is due to be discussed at the House of Lords for its final stage at some point this month, the Guardian reported.
Clerides said that given the legal precedent by the Kenyan case and human rights’ obligations towards the European Union, he thought it was unlikely Cyprus’ case would be jeopardised.
“A state can’t decide whenever it wants that people can’t sue,” he said.
But Thassos Sophocleous, an EOKA veteran who claims he was tortured for over two weeks, said the British government was trying to hide its history.
“Let them apologise and admit they committed these atrocities,” Thassos Sophocleous said.