Anonymous and therefore unverifiable stories. It is impossible to distinguish between terrible experiences and plausible but false stories. How to detect a fake profile? How to flush out possible revenge (from an ex, from a fired employee, etc.)? Or the stories created from scratch, but in good faith, by people in great fragility?
The victims are the first to blame themselves, as if they were responsible
Names thrown out into the open
For victims of sexual violence, filing a complaint* remains difficult. The shame, the feeling of being “a little responsible” of what happened to them and the fear of not being believed complicate the process. Not to mention that in the absence of evidence, cases are closed without further action. On social media, they can free themselves from the burden. Incognito.
But for justice, it is a catastrophe. At the time, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office sounded the alarm. These testimonies on the web polluted the live investigation. How to collect evidence when names are thrown out into the open?
Student, a profile particularly at risk of sexual violence
Tuesday, before the 54th criminal chamber which judged a bartender prosecuted for two rapes committed during the summer of 2021, the prosecutor dotted the “i”s. In Belgium, the procedure is inquisitorial (and not accusatory, as in the Netflix series) and suspects benefit from the presumption of innocence. The search for truth must be done in secret. Not to hide things, “but to be effective and ensure the serenity of the debates”she insists.
Complicating clues risk disappearing
The police must collect clues before questioning the alleged perpetrator. If his identity is disclosed (on Tik-Tok, Instagram or in the press) in the meantime, there is a risk that compromising evidence will disappear: clothes worn on the day of the events “untraceable”, text messages deleted from the phone, a computer or apartment carefully “cleaned”…
In October 2021, the rumor spread on social networks completely corrupted the Waff server file. The one who was still a student had become “the Ixelles cemetery rapist” who poured drugs into girls’ drinks in the bars where he worked. Three years later, the judicial investigation showed that we were not in this pattern. “This does not mean that it does not exist, but in this case, there is nothing to prove the use of drugs“, insists the prosecutor
The fact remains that the defendant, with this label on his back, went through hell; he lost two jobs and most of his friends. “The consequences before the time of a trial in the public square”.
Victims of sexual violence first confide in a loved one. What to do?
“It’s beyond repair for me!”
The magistrate also denounces the inadequate role of certain journalists. A young woman thus testified on Instagram that she had been raped by a man who had locked her in a cellar in 2015. A journalist found the victim and presented her with the portrait of the Waff bartender copied on Facebook. “Yes, it’s him!”reacted the person concerned. “Seven years after the events, a photo is put under the victim’s nose! It’s irrecoverable for me: I no longer know how to take a panel of photos: she will recognize this one. This file was ruined by the journalist.”
The media coverage led to a plethora of complaints that the prosecution examined. Like that of a young woman, convinced of having been drugged, and who wondered if she had not been raped. This case was dismissed for lack of offense. The same goes for a case where the complainant was finally no longer sure that it was him… In another case, the young woman did not know the Waff server but wanted to “help the victim”.
There is a place where victims of sexual violence can go seven days a week, 24 hours a day
*In the event of sexual assault, people can contact a Sexual Violence Support Center (CPVS), a unique system accessible seven days a week and 24 hours a day. (cpvs.belgium.be/fr )
