The prosecutor’s office will challenge the verdict of the Volovets district court in Transcarpathia regarding the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.
In the meantime, the judge who delivered the verdict went on sick leave, the court told Obshchestvenny.
The head of the Transcarpathian OVA, Viktor Nikita, said that after the court verdict, the three convicts study remotely and are “virtually isolated” from the victim. He also added that he had instructed them to prevent them from attending the school at the same time “regardless of the final decision of the court.”
Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets, after the verdict in the case of gang sexual violence against 14-year-old Transcarpathia, said that the child’s rights to protection and a fair trial were violated, and the Ombudsman’s Office will analyze the case.
According to the prosecutor’s office, in 2021, three teenagers in the village of Upper Gate in the basement of their house sexually abused their girlfriend and filmed it on video. At first, the case was considered under the article on gang rape of a minor, but recently the guys were found guilty of gang sexual violence and were placed on probation for two years.
A spokeswoman for the regional prosecutor’s office said that the forensic medical examination did not establish the fact of rape, as the girl said at the beginning. According to the speaker, during the hearings the victim confirmed this, at the same time, “the fact of sexual violence did take place.”
The girl’s parents told Public: after the incident, the daughter continued her studies at school. The defendants did not attend school, but they did not comply with house arrest.
The judge-speaker of the Volovets District Court and the father of the victim said: the girl had a lawyer for free secondary legal aid.
The case was considered under Art. 152 of the Criminal Code (rape). However, on March 16, 2023, the court found the teenagers guilty under the article on the sexual violence of a group of persons against a minor – Part 3 of Art. 153 of the Criminal Code. They were sentenced to five years in prison with a two-year probationary period.
The Volovets District Court reported that the verdict was passed on the basis of the accusation.
During the trial, due to the lack of evidence in the actions of the juvenile defendants of the crime they are charged with, rape, the Transcarpathian Regional Prosecutor’s Office changed the charges of sexual violence, the report says.
Source: Racurs
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