The Brussels Court of Appeal on Friday sentenced six men to between six and eight years in prison for filming the gang rape of a young woman and then posting the pictures on the social network Snapchat.
The charges allegedly took place on the night of October 31 to November 1, 2020 in an apartment in Forest, near the Belgian capital, that had previously been rented by the attackers.
The 23-year-old victim presented himself to local police on November 4, 2020, claiming to have been raped by multiple people and saying that images of the attack had just been made public. She explained that on October 31, one of her friends invited her to a party at an apartment in Forest, attended by several boys and two other girls. The victim was forced by this friend to inhale nitrous oxide (known as laughing gas) in balloons and use ecstasy. She was then raped by him in the bathroom and then in the living room of the accommodation when she was almost unconscious. Five other young men present also raped her.
The gang rape scene was filmed by one of the perpetrators. He then posted it in several videos on Snapchat, which were later turned over to the police.
“The facts alleged against the defendants are particularly serious, since they did not hesitate to repeatedly impose sexual relations for almost three hours on the victim, who was apparently in a trance after consuming alcohol, nitrous oxide and ecstasy. to satisfy their sexual urges,” the court noted.
The court reformed the judgment of October 5, 2021 in corrections. The victim’s boyfriend, who invited her to the Forest apartment, was subsequently sentenced to 5 years probation. He is now serving 7 years in prison. Four of the other men were sentenced to six years in prison, while the sixth will spend the final eight years behind bars.