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.


Androulla Yianni and Paul Constantinou, whose father was allegedly tortured, with solicitor Kevin Conroy (Picture: Dale Martin)

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.’

Bambos Charalambous is demanding the case be settled by the Government (Picture: PA)

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 British Army conduct a ‘terrorist hunt’ in Cyprus in 1956 (Picture: Getty)

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.

Alleged British torture techniques in Cyprus The rape of one young female student Punching, kicking, whipping and threats to cut off penises Forcing a tin bucket on victim’s head and striking it with a hammer Stubbing cigarettes out on exposed rectums Waterboarding, sleep deprivation and forcing victim’s to eat salt Screwing an ‘iron wreath’ around victim’s head causing blood to discharge the ears and eye sockets Simulating executions and forcing one victim into a coffin

Christos Constantinou’s children Paul Constantinou and Androulla Yianni said: ‘Our father was tortured by two British Army captains, who were court-marshalled and sacked for their behaviour.

‘He is no longer well enough to attend court himself, but remembers vividly the awful things that happened to him.’

Dr. Brian Drohan, military historian and author of Brutality in an Age of Human Rights, explained how torture became commonplace in Cyprus.

He orsaid: ‘In Cyprus, as in other colonies, Special Branch fought the war from the shadows.

Dr Brian Drohan believes torture was undertaken in Cyprus by British forces (Picture: Twitter)

‘Lacking today’s high-tech surveillance equipment, the main way that Special Branch gathered intelligence during the Cyprus Emergency was through the interrogation of captured suspects.



‘This interrogation effort was assisted by the Cyprus Governor’s decision to pass harsh emergency laws that granted security forces wide-ranging powers of arrest and detention.’

He added: ‘Able to question suspects with few legal constraints, special branch interrogators could act with near impunity.’

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘As legal proceedings are ongoing we are unable to comment.’

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