22.02.2012
Persecution of human rights defender Polycarpou and breach of migrants’ rights question Cyprus’s suitability to take over EU Chairmanship
Mr Doros Polycarpou, Executive Director of KISA, is being prosecuted on charges of rioting, following tragic events at the Rainbow Festival on 5 November 2010, in Larnaca, Cyprus. Participants of a racist and extreme nationalist demonstration against migrants and refugees attacked the multicultural festival which KISA had organised with the support of local and European authorities. The police did not take the necessary measures to avoid the foreseeable clash and several festival-goers were seriously injured as a result, one of whom was stabbed.