Protest demonstration in Florence at the Fortezza da Basso against the sentence (Ansa)

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May 28, 2021 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Italy for violating the rights of an alleged rape victim with a sentence that contains "passages that did not respect her private and intimate life", "of the comments unjustified "and a" language and arguments that convey prejudices on the role of women that exist in Italian society ".



The story concerns the acquittal made in 2015 by the Florence Court of Appeal for seven young people accused of group sexual violence. According to the indictment, the seven had abused a girl on July 26, 2008. Six of them were convicted in the first instance but all were acquitted on appeal. On this second sentence, the Strasbourg Court, accepting the victim's appeal, has now condemned Italy to compensate her for a damage of 12 thousand euros for having violated aspects of her private life.



The verdict of the ECHR does not enter into the merits of the acquittal but censures the sexist contents of the reasons of the second degree. "Unjustified - say the European judges - the reference to the underwear that the applicant wore on the evening of the events, such as the comments on her bisexuality, her romantic relationships or the sexual relations she had had before the facts examined". The Strasbourg judges also considered "inappropriate the considerations made on the ambivalent attitude regarding the applicant's sex".



For the accusation, after spending the evening with the group of young people who got her drunk, the girl was taken to a parking lot near the Fortezza da Basso in Florence where, by car, the rape took place. After the girl was reported, the defendants were arrested. The first instance trial ended on January 14, 2013, with six 4-year and 6-month prison sentences and one acquittal. Two years later, on March 4, 2015, the court of appeal acquitted everyone 'because the fact does not exist'. The Florence Public Prosecutor's Office never presented an appeal to the Supreme Court, effectively putting an end to the legal matter.