Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – In the trial for the double rape of a Ukrainian who fled to Düsseldorf, the prosecutor demanded four and four and a half years in prison. This was announced by a spokeswoman for the Düsseldorf district court on Wednesday. The defense attorneys requested an acquittal.
Out of respect for the alleged victim’s privacy, the pleadings were not public. The two accused, aged 27 and 39, are said to have raped the 18-year-old on March 6 on a hotel ship moored on the banks of the Rhine. Some of the first refugees who arrived after Russia’s attack on Ukraine were accommodated there.
Like the young woman, the two men had fled Ukraine and were accommodated on the ship. The 18-year-old Ukrainian did not have to testify at the trial. Two experts had classified the young woman as traumatized and unfit for questioning. Her mother had reported in the process that her daughter was completely listless and would no longer leave the room in which she was now staying.
Defense attorneys raised serious doubts about the statements made by the woman to the police. They requested that the young woman be examined by another expert. The court rejected the request.
The hearing had to be interrupted several times on Wednesday because the younger defendant was sobbing loudly, shaken by crying fits. The verdict is expected to be announced next Friday.
