Death of an alleged victim of human trafficking
Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia | 2010
Background
At age 20, Oxana Rantseva was allegedly trafficked from Russia to Cyprus for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Two weeks later, she was found dead beneath a fifth floor balcony, after trying to escape.
The Cypriot authorities found that nobody was criminally responsible for the events and refused to investigate further.
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation had repeatedly been raised as a major problem in Cyprus.
Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
The Strasbourg court found that Ms Rantseva had visited a police station a few hours before her death in circumstances suggesting that she was a victim of human trafficking. Yet the Cypriot authorities had failed to do anything to protect her, just before she died. They also failed to properly investigate the circumstances of her death. This was partly due to a lack of laws requiring the Cypriot authorities to tackle human trafficking.
The Russian authorities had also failed to investigate how Ms Rantseva had been recruited and who had been responsible for taking her to Cyprus.
Follow-up
Human trafficking was criminalised in both Russia and Cyprus after the events took place. Changes were also made to Cypriot visa rules which had been manipulated to enable women to be trafficked for sexual exploitation. Furthermore, the Cypriot authorities ratified the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and promised to work with European anti-trafficking experts.
A further investigation was carried out into Oxana Rantseva’s death. As a result, two Cypriot police officers were prosecuted for neglect of duty and her employer was prosecuted for abduction and kidnapping.
Oxana Ranteva’s father, Nikolay Rantsev, was awarded compensation for the breach of his daughter’s basic rights.

Judge Michalis Papathanasiou, the Judge who sent Roxana Ranseva a Russian girl who was trafficked to Cyprus but then tried to escape prostitution but given the then cabarets were run by certain people this Judge denied her protection and was sent back to the gang of which she was found dead two weeks later!
SPOTTED SAYS: This man is not fit to be a Judge, he is clearly a misogynist, he is corrupt and he WILL NOT allow justice to prevail over the collusion of immoral police officers. He should be made to stand down and Spotted Cyprus will hereby endeavour to do all that it can to expose this man who has presided over many miscarriages of justice.
Judge Michalis Papathanasiou YOU HAVE BEEN SPOTTED & YOU WILL BE EXPOSED!
