Process - Three years in prison for rape at carnival
For the rape of a woman during Carnival 2020, a defendant must still go to prison. The Cologne Regional Court sentenced him on a Wednesday to a prison term of three years, as a spokesperson announced.
In the first trial, the man had been acquitted. The public prosecutor had filed a revision. Following this, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) sent the case back to the Regional Court for retrial. The Chamber now considered it proven that the defendant had raped the heavily intoxicated, sleeping woman in a hotel room.
Additionally, he had made two smartphone videos of the then 21-year-old woman - for which he had been sentenced to a fine of 1600 Euros in the first trial in 2022. This fine "for violation of the highest personal sphere through image recordings" remains in effect.
Originally, there were two other men accused in this case, but the proceedings against them had been discontinued on condition of payment of a fine. All three men belonged to a WhatsApp group named "Stich-Group," in which the members exchanged information about their sexual conquests.
The three men had traveled to Cologne as tourists in 2020 to celebrate Carnival. One of them met the later victim in a bar and took her back to his hotel room. Then the currently sentenced man joined them.
- The public prosecutor's office in North Rhine-Westphalia decided to appeal the acquittal of the man involved in the rape case at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
- The Federal Court of Justice, known as the BGH in German, overturned the decision of the Cologne Regional Court and ordered a retrial due to insufficient evidence.
- Following the retrial, the Federal Court of Justice's Regional Court Chamber in Cologne found the defendant guilty of raping a woman during Carnival 2020.
- Despite being part of a group of men who traveled to Cologne for Carnival and engaging in disreputable behavior, only one of the three men involved in this case was charged and sentenced to prison for rape.
- A woman who was a victim of a crime during Carnival 2020 is not just an individual but a part of the larger issue of sexual violence that continues to be prevalent in society, especially during such large gatherings like Carnival.
