Three defendants accused of repeatedly raping a Moroccan lady pleaded not responsible Thursday because the case went to attraction, after their mild sentences shocked the nation.
The sufferer was solely 11 when she was “repeatedly raped” and have become pregnant, in accordance with rights teams within the North African kingdom.
The authorized group of the lady, who’s now 12, had appealed after a decrease courtroom sentenced one in every of her three alleged attackers to 2 years in jail, and the others to 18 months every.
All three may have confronted as much as 30 years behind bars.
The appeals courtroom will hear testimonies from the sufferer and a witness, additionally a minor, in personal after the prosecution requested it, citing little one safety considerations.
The Rabat appeals courtroom was packed for Thursday’s listening to.
The three males, aged between 25 and 37, denied all fees, an AFP journalist stated.
The sufferer, trying frail and silent, was accompanied by her grandmother and father.
The three defendants, who face fees of “misappropriation of a minor” and “indecent assault on a minor with violence”, hung their heads.
The prosecution requested that “rape” be added to the costs, a request rejected by the choose.
One of many males was confronted with a DNA take a look at proving that he’s the daddy of the kid born to the lady.
Requested how this occurred, he repeatedly stated, “I do not know”.
The case has precipitated an uproar within the North African nation, and a petition condemning the sentences, which had been issued on March 20, has amassed tens of 1000’s of signatures.
The lady, from a village close to Rabat, was raped repeatedly over a interval of months when she was simply 11, the Jossour Discussion board of Moroccan Ladies stated in a press release final month.
She was impregnated by one in every of her attackers, information web site Medias24 has reported.
Amina Khalid, head of INSAF, a ladies’s rights group which has adopted the lady’s case, stated she “is beginning to smile a little bit however she remains to be in shock”.
INSAF has helped the lady go to highschool for the primary time.
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