A Swiss Judge Reduced A Rapist’s Sentence Because The Rape Lasted Only 11 Minutes. This Is Disgusting
After writing about dozens of rape cases, one thing has become crystal clear to me. People, around the world, can’t comprehend the fact that nothing a woman does translates to her “asking for it”. It doesn’t matter if she is out late at night, wearing short clothes, drinking alcohol or even being intimate with someone else. The only person responsible for the rape is the person committing the brutal crime. It’s very black and white. We say this after hundreds of Swiss women took to the streets to protest the court’s decision to lower a rapist’s conviction because the brutal act lasted only for 11 minutes and the victim wasn’t seriously injured.
It all started in February 2020. A woman was raped by a 33-year-old Portuguese man and his 17-year-old companion in her apartment in northwest Switzerland. She had come home late after going to a nightclub. In August, the 33-year-old man was convicted of rape and given a sentence of 4 years and three months. However, the 17-year-old is still awaiting a conviction from the juvenile court.
Things took a turn for the worse when Court President Liselotte Henz opted to lower the 33-year-old accused’s sentence from four years and three months down to three years. Yep, he only has to serve three years jail time for violently raping a woman. It’s shameful but the reason that she chose to do this is worse and extremely sexist. According to reports, Henz said that the victim was “playing with fire,” and giving out “certain signals”. She was referring to the fact that the victim had made out with another man while she was at the nightclub that night. She also said that the accused were only “medium” at fault for the assault.
“It lasted only 11 minutes”: why this rape decision caused a protest in Switzerland
The signboards of the protesters said, “There is no such thing as a short rape,” and complained that the legal system “sent the wrong signal” to the general public.https://t.co/qF8jPCTn9e— Amanda Vos (@AmandaVos7) August 9, 2021
Also Read: Marital Rape Good Ground For Divorce Observes Kerala High Court
Obviously, this sentencing irked hundreds of Swiss people. Can you blame them? This needs to be protested. Women marched in front of the Swiss Appeals Court in Basel and held up signs that read, “11 minutes are 11 minutes too many!”
Marcel Columb, vice president of the Basel Social Democrats took to Twitter to express displeasure with this sentence. He said that four years was an extremely short time, to begin with, and that reducing it further could send the wrong message to sexual assault victims. He wrote, “A four-year sentence was already mild, but now to imply the woman was complicit due to her behaviour to someone uninvolved with the crime is unbearable. What a sign for all victims of sexualized violence.”
I am not a legal expert, especially not in Swiss law, but this is problematic and it sets a horrible precedent.
