Italy has been shaken by the alleged gang rape of a 13-year-old lady in entrance of her boyfriend in a public park within the Sicilian metropolis of Catania, the newest in a string of surprising sexual assaults within the nation.
The case is paying homage to two alleged gang rapes final summer time. A gaggle of seven males and teenage boys between the ages of 15 and 18 are at present on trial for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old lady in Palermo in August.
Weeks later 9 younger males were arrested and charged with allegedly raping two cousins aged 10 and 12 close to Naples and broadcasting the assault stay on social media. They, too, are going through trial.
Final month’s alleged gang rape in Catania has turn out to be not solely a logo of violence in opposition to ladies within the nation, however a trigger célèbre for Italy’s far-right authorities. The seven suspected perpetrators had been all Egyptian migrants, three of them below the age of 18, Catania police confirmed to CNN.
CNN approached the suspect’s attorneys for remark. Attorneys for 3 of them mentioned their purchasers denied involvement within the precise assault, whereas the others wouldn’t remark as a result of their purchasers are minors.
The case was quickly seized upon as proof that migrants ought to be blocked from coming into the nation.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, got here to energy in September 2022 on an anti-immigration platform, however her efforts to curb irregular migration into the nation have so far been unsuccessful.
The boys accused within the newest Sicilian case entered Italy by boat in 2021 and 2022 as unaccompanied minors, in response to Catania police. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, one of many nation’s most seen far-right figures, said on X that they need to not have been allowed to remain.
In the meantime, throughout a go to to Catania, Meloni expressed her solidarity with the alleged rape sufferer and her household.
“The state can be there, and the state will assure that justice can be achieved,” she mentioned.
The methods by which the circumstances between these with Italian suspects and people with Egyptian suspects are being dealt with are already drawing scrutiny.
The boys accused of raping the 19-year-old girl in Palermo have been granted fast-track trials, their attorneys instructed CNN, which implies they are going to be held behind closed doorways and sealed.
The Egyptian suspects have been appointed attorneys who haven’t but entered a plea, however the prosecutor within the case has already filed further costs tied to unlawful immigration, Alessandro Fidone, the court docket appointed lawyer representing two of the suspects instructed CNN.
Those that had been now over the age of 18, and subsequently not categorized as unaccompanied minors, now not had the best to remain within the nation as a result of Egyptians don’t qualify for asylum in Italy.
Italy’s inside ministry has referred to as for a radical evaluation of all facilities housing unaccompanied minors to see if comparable circumstances exist.
Migration blamed
Italy has lengthy struggled with the issue of gender-based violence.
In November, each homes of parliament unanimously handed a brand new measure strengthening punishments in opposition to perpetrators of gender-based violence and growing protecting measures for ladies who concern for his or her lives.
The laws was impressed by the case of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old girl murdered by an ex-boyfriend. She was one in all 118 femicides in Italy final 12 months. In 2022, ladies had been the victims of 91% of homicides dedicated by members of the family, companions or former companions, in response to the European Information Journalism Community.
“Violence in opposition to ladies is a phenomenon that’s roughly current in all nations, brought on by structural causes just like the disparity between women and men, stereotypes and prejudices,” Elena Biaggioni, vice chairman of D.i.Re, a nationwide affiliation that coordinates anti-violence facilities and ladies’s shelters, mentioned final June.
Talking at a protest after a pregnant girl was allegedly stabbed to demise by her companion, she added: “However in fact in nations the place there’s a macho tradition and sexism is stronger, like Italy, this violence is justified another way.”
But within the newest case, officers have centered their consideration on the background of the alleged perpetrators.
The choose investigating the newest case, Carlo Umberto Cannella, mentioned the suspects had been prone to reoffend as a result of they weren’t “accustomed to civilization.”
He dominated that they need to all stay in jail whereas the investigation is underway.
“It seems clear that there’s a hazard of repetition of the crime additionally in gentle of the truth that the horror solely ended because of the lady’s try to free herself,” Cannella mentioned Wednesday as he dominated that the suspects shouldn’t be launched on bail, in response to a court docket spokesperson.
In a scathing op-ed within the right-leaning newspaper Il Giornale, which was based by the household of the late former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the editors additionally blamed migration for the alleged Sicily rape.
“Why are these people, with none requirement to entry worldwide safety, nonetheless in Italy and haven’t been topic to expulsion?” the editors wrote.
“As a result of upon arrival in our nation they declared themselves minors and the legislation prevents the rejection of irregular immigrants who haven’t but reached the age of majority. Now they’ll go to trial for rape however, within the meantime, that little lady will endlessly carry along with her the ache and trauma of rape, suffered at simply 13 years outdated. This isn’t the primary case of non-EU minors being welcomed into Italian services after which participating in legal actions.”
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