Protests erupt in Italy after female judges cleared men of rape charges, called alleged victim 'too masculine'

At least 200 people protested outside of a court house in Italy after it was revealed that rape charges against two men were thrown out when judges deemed their alleged victim as "too masculine" to be the subject of attraction
(iStock )

At least 200 people protested outside of a court house in Italy after it was revealed that rape charges against two men were thrown out when judges deemed their alleged victim as "too masculine" to be the subject of attraction.

The men were originally convicted of raping the woman in 2016, but a panel of three female judges threw out the charges in an Ancona appeals court in 2017 after making demeaning references about her appearance. The appeals case was made public on Friday after the country's highest appeals court overruled the Ancona court's decision, and declared there be a retrial of the two men.

Protestors chanted and held signs accusing the appeals court of misogyny during the large demonstration on Monday, according to The Local Italy.

The victim has remained unnamed but is reportedly of Peruvian origin and was 22 at the time of the alleged assault. She reportedly claimed that the men spiked her drink with drugs, then one raped her while the other stood guard.

MYSTERY SCULPTURE REVEALED IN ITALY COULD BE WORK OF LEONARDO DA VINCI, EXPERTS SAY

A subsequent medical exam found that she had sustained injuries consistent with rape, and that date rape drugs were found in her system.

All the evidence supported the conviction of the men in 2016 - however, the appeals court found her appearance to be enough evidence to overturn it.

In the judges' ruling, they reportedly wrote that one man "didn't even like the girl, to the point of having stored her number in his phone under the nickname 'Viking', an allusion to an anything but feminine figure, rather a masculine one."

"The photograph present in her file would appear to confirm this," they added.

BILL COSBY TO FACE SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSER WHILE IN PRISON: REPORT

The woman's lawyer, Cinzia Molinaro, said she took her client's case to the Supreme Court after reading the ruling.

“I read this sentence in 2017 and that’s why we referred it to the supreme court,” she told The Guardian.

“It was disgusting to read; the judges expressed various reasons for deciding to acquit them, but one was because the [defendants] said they didn’t even like her, because she was ugly," she continued.