Tariq Ramadan acquitted of rape charges in Switzerland

Islam expert Tariq Ramadan arrives for a meeting with a Parliamentary panel studying the wearing of full-body Islamic veils such as the burqa, Wednesday Dec. 2, 2009.
Islam expert Tariq Ramadan arrives for a meeting with a Parliamentary panel studying the wearing of full-body Islamic veils such as the burqa, Wednesday Dec. 2, 2009. Copyright AP Photo/Francois Mori
By Euronews with AFP
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Ramadan, who is the grandson of the founder of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, will receive €154,000 in compensation from the State of Geneva.

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Famous Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan was acquitted on Wednesday of rape and sexual coercion by a Geneva court, which ruled that there was no evidence against him.

He will also receive about 151,000 Swiss francs (about €154,400) in compensation from the state of Geneva.

The plaintiff immediately announced that she would appeal. Three years in prison was suggested last week by the Geneva prosecutor.

When the verdict was announced in a room full of journalists, the 60-year-old Swiss scholar, smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters. On the civil parties' bench, the plaintiff, now 57, left the room before the end of the reading of the verdict.

Ramadan was on trial for the first time for rape, but he is facing a trial in France for similar offences.

His long-awaited trial revealed two opposing versions of the events.

Mr Ramadan, a charismatic and controversial figure in European Islam, denies any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a "trap".

The complainant, "Brigitte", who has chosen this pseudonym to protect herself from threats, says that Mr Ramadan subjected her to brutal sexual acts accompanied by blows and insults in the room of a Geneva hotel where he was staying on the night of 28 October 2008.

During the three-day hearing last week in Geneva, a screen separated them so that she did not have to see him.

"Brigitte" filed a complaint ten years after the events, in 2018. She explained she was encouraged by the fact that other women had done the same against Tariq Ramadan in France.

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