Four teenage migrants walked free from a Swedish court after a judge ruled that the victim was “not drunk enough” for the encounter to be classified as rape.
The four migrant teens were accused of raping a young Swedish woman during a “Fun Cruises” student party ferry ride from Sweden to Finland in May of this year that was advertised by the organizers as “a crazy action packed day at sea.” The judge in the case ruled last month that there was little evidence to prove that the sexual encounter between the four young men and the young Swedish woman was not consensual. The four are now walking free from the court after the prosecutor in the case has decided not to appeal the judge’s ruling The Local reports.
Prosecutor Kristin Morén made a statement to Swedish press Friday explaining the decision not to appeal the controversial ruling saying: “We have gone through the court verdict very carefully and have decided not to appeal. We don’t think we would be successful in the appeals court.”
The ruling of the court was based on evidence gathered multiple hours after the alleged attack took place. the urine and blood samples from the victim indicated, according to the court, that the young woman was “not drunk enough” to be unable to consent to sexual actions with the four migrant men. The court stated that the victim was not “particularly vulnerable” or that she could not “protect her sexual integrity.”
The ruling has gathered sharp criticism from across the political spectrum in Sweden. Noted Swedish lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz who has represented several victims of rape, domestic abuse and honour crimes, said: “Our laws are there to protect the victims of crime, not to relinquish grown men of responsibility for their actions. Sweden and the Swedish legal system should be ashamed of this verdict.”
Ms. Fritz added that she was baffled that the court came “to the conclusion that a drunk young woman, alone in a cabin with four strange men, did not have cause to be afraid?”
The verdict comes hot off the heels of news that at least 40 young girls were sexually assaulted at a Swedish music festival in Karlstad this month. Swedes are growing increasingly distrustful of police and media who are often accused of downplaying the origin of the sex attackers who more and more tend to come from migrant backgrounds.
Police and politicians alike have recently made bizarre assertions regarding migrant sex violence in Sweden with police blaming “Nordic drinking culture” for the rise in attacks. Swedish politician and feminist Barbro Sörman went even further claiming that migrant rape wasn’t as bad as rape by a Swede because migrants don’t know any better.