In Australia, the sensational rape case against a former government official has come to an abrupt end.

According to prosecutors, the alleged victim could be traumatized by the process.

"I have recently received compelling evidence from two independent medical experts that the ongoing trauma associated with this lawsuit poses a significant and unacceptable risk to the life of the plaintiff," Canberra District Attorney Shane Drumgold told ABC on Friday reported.

Till Fähnders

Political correspondent for Southeast Asia.

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The risk does not only exist if the plaintiff Brittany Higgins had to testify in court.

In a case of sexual assault in particular, the applicant's well-being must have priority.

He made the decision that it was not in the public interest to pursue the lawsuit even if there was reason to believe the defendant would be convicted.

The defendant Bruce Lehrmann denies the guilt.

Higgins, on the other hand, claims to have been raped in 2019 in the government office of Senator and later Secretary of Defense Linda Reynolds in the Canberra Parliament by her senior colleague Lehrmann.

At first she kept the incident to herself and only reported it to her supervisor at the time in the wake of a wave of allegations of sexual abuse in the course of the Me Too campaign.

According to her, she was then pressured not to make the allegations public.

The case, along with other revelations and allegations of sexual misconduct, sparked outrage, particularly in political Canberra.

Thousands of Australians across the country protested against sexual abuse and harassment.

On behalf of MPs, then Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized to victims in Parliament, including Higgins himself. According to him, Canberra had developed a "culture" in which harassment and bullying had been normalized.

According to a study carried out at the time, 63 percent of all female parliamentarians and 40 percent of all parliamentary staff have experienced sexual harassment at some point.

According to the prosecutor, Higgins faced "a level of personal attack" as a result of the immense attention

which he has not experienced in 20 years in this profession.

Higgins endured this with "courage, grace and dignity".