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Swiss Protest After a Court Reduced a Rape Sentence Because Rape Was 11 Minutes Long [insider.com]:

• Hundreds took to the streets in Basel, Switzerland, after a court reduced a rapist's sentence.
• The judge said that she reduced the sentence because the assault was "only" 11 minutes long.
• The Justice also said the victim was not severely injured and had "played with fire."

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Hundreds of Swiss protestors took to the streets of Basel on Sunday after a court reduced the sentence of a rapist last month on the grounds that the sexual assault only lasted 11 minutes and that the victim had not been severely injured, reported Swiss Info [swissinfo.ch].

In February 2020, a woman was raped by a 33-year-old Portuguese man and his 17-year-old companion in her apartment in Basel, northwest Switzerland, after going to a nightclub. The 33-year-old was convicted of rape in August, while the teenager is still awaiting judgment from the Juvenile Court.

Court President Liselotte Henz opted to lower the rapist's sentence down from four years and three months to to three years. The defendant could be released as early as Wednesday, reported Swiss media site 20 Minuten. [20min.ch]

The victim had been "playing with fire," and giving out "certain signals," Henz said, according to 20 Minuten. Justice Henz was referring to how the victim had apparently made out with another man in the nightclub, prior to the assault, according to the outlet.

Marching before the Swiss Appeals Court in Basel, protesters held up signs reading: "11 minutes are 11 minutes too many!"

—element (@__investigate__) August 8, 2021 [twitter.com]

The judge went on to say that the perpetrator was at "medium" fault for the incident.

The reduced sentence has received widespread condemnation.

Frauenstreik Basel [frauenstreik-bs.ch], a feminist organization in Basel, said: "The decision to use violence against a person's will always rests with the perpetrator alone," adding that "whether a rape lasts 11 minutes or several hours," it is "humiliating" and "violent."

Marcel Columb, vice president of the Basel Social Democrats, tweeted [twitter.com] that the rapist's sentence was already short to begin with, and the reduced jail time sent the wrong message to victims of sexual abuse.

"A four-year sentence was already mild, but now to imply the woman was complicit due to her behavior to someone uninvolved with the crime is unbearable. What a sign for all victims of sexualized violence," he wrote.

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