The Islamologist was found guilty in second instance of a rape committed in a Geneva hotel in 20087. 2008.
AFP
In a dramatic turnaround, Swiss Islamologist Tariq Ramadan has been sentenced on appeal in Switzerland for rape and sexual coercion to a three-year prison sentence, including one year to be served, after being acquitted at first instance.
The criminal appeal and review chamber “annuls the judgment of the criminal court of May 24, 2023, finding Tariq Ramadan guilty of rape and sexual coercion for almost all of the facts reported,” said the Geneva Court of Justice.
The criminal appeal and review chamber “sentences Tariq Ramadan to a custodial sentence of three years, without a one-year suspended sentence.” It thus confirmed information from RTS.
Possible appeal to the Federal Court
“These events occurred in Geneva on the night of October 28 to 29, 2008, the date on which the complainant was raped and subjected to sexual acts,” the court added.
The parties having waived a public reading of the judgment, it was notified to them by mail.
The ruling, dated August 28, can be appealed within 30 days to the Federal Court, which is the supreme court of the Confederation.
The appeal trial was held in Geneva at the end of May. The prosecutor had requested a three-year prison sentence, half of which was to be served, and raised the notion of “control” exercised by Tariq Ramadan, 62, which he compared to “Stockholm syndrome” in the complainant.
Tariq Ramadan, a charismatic and controversial figure in European Islam, denies any sexual act and had pleaded for acquittal.
Rough sex acts
Converted to Islam, the plaintiff, “Brigitte”, who goes by this name to protect herself from threats, assured the judges that he had subjected her to brutal sexual acts accompanied by blows and insults in the room of the Geneva hotel where he was staying, on the night of October 28, 2008.
In May 2023, following a highly publicized first trial which took place in a very tense atmosphere, Tariq Ramadan was acquitted at first instance.
The judges then considered that there was no evidence against him in this case. The Geneva Criminal Court also highlighted the contradictory testimonies and the “love messages” sent by the complainant.
The three judges of the appeal and review chamber had a completely different assessment of the facts, this time holding “that several testimonies, certificates, medical notes and opinions of private experts are consistent with the facts reported by the complainant”, according to the Court of Justice.
Intimate correspondence
Also, “the elements collected by the investigation thus convinced the chamber as to the guilt of the defendant,” the press release states.
The complainant had indicated during the investigation that she had met Tariq Ramadan at a book signing session a few months earlier. This was followed by an increasingly intimate correspondence on social networks.
The two protagonists claimed before the Geneva judges that they had spent the night together in the hotel room, which she had left early in the morning to return home. But their versions of the facts differ.
Tariq Ramadan claimed to have allowed himself to be kissed before ending the exchange and accused the complainant of wanting revenge for having been “rejected”.
The complainant filed a complaint ten years after the events. According to the prosecution, it was the fact that women filed complaints in France in 2017 against the Islamologist that prompted “Brigitte” to do the same in Switzerland.
(afp)
