A Swedish court sentenced three men to jail Tuesday for their participation in a gang rape in January, which streamed live on Facebook.
The men were arrested in January after viewers alerted police of the ongoing rape. An 18-year-old Afghan was sentenced to one year in jail for raping the woman. A 24-year-old, also from Afghanistan, was sentenced to 28 months in prison. (RELATED: Gang Live-Stream Rape Of Unconscious Woman On Facebook)
A third man, a 24-year-old Swede, got six months in jail for filming the rape and failing to report it to authorities.
The victim, a woman in her thirties, will receive $37,000 from the men in damages. All defendants pleaded not guilty, arguing the sexual encounter was consensual.
The court said the woman was too intoxicated on alcohol and drugs to give her consent, which the defendants should have realized.
“Even if she, in the way the defendants claim, had agreed to intercourse, it is not possible for a person in such a vulnerable situation to consent,” Nils Pålbrant, the district court chairman, said in a statement. “They shall therefore be held liable for rape.”
The video was posted in a closed Facebook group with 60,000 members, which the court considers a case of gross defamation.
“The crime is serious because the video received a great deal of attention both in Sweden and internationally, which has caused the victim great harm,” the court said in the ruling.
Around 60 people watched the gang rape live.
“It felt unreal to watch it. Who posts something like that on Facebook?” Lovisa, one of the people watching the live stream, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in January. “I’m wondering how the girl is doing, if she’s okay. She must feel completely broken.”
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