Around 500 people have protested in front of a Swiss appeals court that last month reduced the prison sentence of a rapist. The judge argued that the rape lasted only 11 minutes and that the victim had been “playing with fire” and had not been severely injured. The mostly female protesters in front of the Basel courthouse on Sunday held up banners and shouted “11 minutes are 11 minutes too many!” They slammed the court’s ruling, which had lowered the now 33-year-old rapist’s partly conditional prison sentence from 51 months to 36 months, meaning the defendant will be released next week. In last month’s ruling, the female judge also said the female rape victim had sent out “certain signals” and that “it must be noted that [the victim] was playing with fire”, Swiss media reported. A spokeswoman for the court refused to explain that statement by the judge. The rape took place in February 2020 after a visit to a nightclub. The woman was raped by the 33-year-old and his 17-year-old...
