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RAPE

Supreme court rethinks rape rulings

Two fresh rulings by Sweden's supreme court have set new guidelines for the interpretation of rape cases.

The court ruled on Tuesday that a perpetrator who inserted his fingers into the vagina of a sleeping woman was guilty of rape.

In a parallel ruling however the court decided that an offender who fondled the genitalia of a sleeping man should be considered guilty of the lesser crime of sexual coercion.

In both cases, the court has reversed the decisions of the Court of Appeal.

In the first case, a 20-year-old man who violated a sleeping woman was originally convicted by the appeal court of sexual coercion and sentenced to six months in jail.

But having ruled that the act should instead be interpreted as rape, the supreme court has now ordered the lower court to reevaluate the 20-year-old’s sentence.

In the second case, a 50-year-old man was found guilty of rape by the appeal court after he caressed the penis of a young man who was asleep at the time.

In this instance the culprit is likely to have his one year sentence reduced after the supreme ruled that he should be convicted of sexual coercion rather than rape.