Thread by @DrEricDing

Shameful—French court rules that sex with 13-year-old girl can’t be tried as rape.

Under 🇫🇷 law, sex with a minor under age 15 is considered illegal only if not consensual. Given difficulty of proving a minor was forcibly coerced, only ~1% convicted. 🤦🏻‍♂️ washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/…

2) “France’s top court has rejected a bid to pursue rape charges against a group of firefighters accused of repeatedly raping a girl “Julie” during a period between her 13th-15th birthdays. The men will instead be charged with sexual assault, which carries a lighter sentence.

3) “Attorneys for Julie’s family plan to contest that decision and bring the case to Europe’s Court of Human Rights.
The horrific allegations in Julie’s case have galvanized protesters who want to see France institute stricter age-of-consent laws.

4) “Julie was 13 when she suffered a seizure in school and was rescued by firefighters. After incident, she began to have severe anxiety attacks that repeatedly required firefighters to intervene, and developed a trusting relationship with the men, which they allegedly exploited.

5) “According to family & lawyers, the firefighters got her phone number and began sending her flirtatious messages. Over a 2-year period, she was allegedly raped by 20 men. According to her mother, she made multiple suicide attempts and is now struggling with severe disability.

6) “While rape charges would have carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the firefighters will face sentences of no more than seven years if they are convicted of sexual assault.

7) “Protesters who have rallied around Julie’s case argue that it exposes flaws in France’s age of consent law, saying that a child under 15 is not capable of giving consent, if the perpetrator is at least five years older.

8) “This week, France’s National Assembly voted to amend the law so that all sexual acts involving people under age of 15 would be considered rape. The legislation has yet to move through the French senate, but President Macron’s government has expressed support for the change.

9) “Julie’s lawyers pointed out the irony of having the high court decree that a minor under the age of 15 was capable of consent just days after elected officials decided otherwise.

10) “They argued that the judges should have taken into account that Julie was especially fragile and in a state of “great psychological distress” and criticized the court for reinforcing an “archaic ideology.”

#JusticePourJulie