The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized women as possible accomplices of rape

The Supreme Court of Russia has recognized that a woman may be a co-perpetrator of rape. This is stated in the review of judicial practice, which was reviewed by Izvestia on June 19.

It will be clarified that this ruling will consolidate a new position in judicial practice and eliminate uncertainty about women's responsibility for gang sexual violence. The decision was made on the basis of a cassation appeal against the verdict of a court in the Sverdlovsk region of August 2022, when a man and a woman were found guilty of gang rape and sexual assault. Then the court found that the woman, acting in concert with the second defendant, held the victim by the hands, completely suppressing her resistance. The appeal and appeal against the judgment were rejected.

"Assistance to another person in committing rape and sexual violence, provided by a convicted person through the use of physical violence against the victim, is correctly qualified as co—execution," the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation says.

Thus, in qualifying the actions of women in gang rapes, the key criterion will be the direct use of physical violence to suppress the victim's resistance. This entails equal responsibility with the direct rapist and a more severe punishment than for complicity. It is emphasized that the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are binding on lower courts.

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The incident that served as the basis for the ruling occurred in May 2021 near the village of Polovinka in the Sverdlovsk region. Then, in a state of alcoholic intoxication, Alexey Yeremeyev and Olga Vaseva found a tourist tent where the girl was sleeping. The tourist was beaten with a stick, after which the man raped her while her accomplice held her down. Wanting to cover his tracks, Yeremeyev killed the victim, and Vaseva withdrew all her savings from the girl's account.

On August 24, 2022, Yeremeyev was sentenced to 23 years in prison, and his accomplice to nine years in prison. In addition, they had to pay 3.5 million rubles and 1.3 million rubles, respectively, to the victim's family as moral compensation.