COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Swedish court on Tuesday sentenced three men aged 18-24 for participating in a gang rape that was streamed live on a closed Facebook group.
The Uppsala District Court said one of the men was given a sentence of 27 months for rape and assistance to rape. The others were given respectively one year — which was halved because he was a minor at the time of the crime — and six months. Two of the men are Afghan citizens and the third is a Swedish citizen of Afghan descent.
Judge Nils Palbrandt said the victim, a woman in her 30s, was under influence of narcotics and alcohol was not able to give her consent to the sexual act, as was claimed by the men. The men, too, were influenced by alcohol during the act.
The court said the film had received a lot of attention both in Sweden and internationally.
During the four-day trial, the video was aired behind closed doors, according to court documents obtained by press.
The men also were sentenced to pay total damages of 300,000 kronor ($33,890) to the victim.
The three were arrested in January in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, after police received tips about the streaming and the rape and interrupted the broadcast.
