Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar facing a spate of claims in Switzerland and France, was convicted guilty of r*pe by a Swiss appeals court on Tuesday, reversing an earlier lower court acquittal.
After being acquitted last year, a Geneva appeals court ruled that the 62-year-old former Oxford University professor was “guilty of r*pe and s*xual coercion” against a lady in a Geneva hotel 15 years ago.
It sentenced him to three years in prison, with two suspended, marking his first guilty verdict.
The verdict was marginally more moderate than the prosecutor’s request in the May appeals case for three years in prison, half of which was suspended.
“Our client is of course relieved, considering what she has had to endure for the truth to come out,” the woman’s lawyers Veronique Fontana and Robert Assael told AFP, hailing that “the truth has finally triumphed”.
Francois Zimeray, the lawyer who represented the woman during the first trial, meanwhile emphasised that the ruling “came at the cost of years of pain and hardship suffered with dignity by the plaintiff”.
“We have rarely experience such brutal proceedings.”
The verdict, which was issued on August 28 but not made public until Tuesday, was anticipated to be appealed to Switzerland’s top court.
Philippe Ohayon, one of Ramadan’s French lawyers, criticized the “many contradictions” in the legal process.
Ramadan, a prominent yet divisive figure in European Islam, has consistently maintained his innocence.
Ramadan’s complainant, a Muslim convert known only as “Brigitte,” told the court that he subjected her to r*pe and other violent s*x acts in a Geneva hotel room on the night of October 28, 2008.
Brigitte’s lawyer claimed she was repeatedly r*ped and subjected to “torture and barbarism”.
‘Trap’
Ramadan said that Brigitte invited herself up to his room. He let her kiss him, he said, before quickly ending the encounter.
He said he was the victim of a “trap”.
Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault.
She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed against Ramadan in France.
The appeals verdict overturns a lower court finding last year acquitting Ramadan of r*pe and s*xual coercion, citing a lack of evidence, contradictory testimonies and “love messages” sent by the plaintiff after the alleged assault.
But during their appeal, Brigitte’s lawyers alleged that Ramadan had exercised significant “control” over the woman, suggesting she had suffered something akin to Stockholm syndrome.
The three appeals court judges pointed to “witness testimony, certificates, medical notes and private expert opinions consistent with the facts presented by the plaintiff”.
“Elements collected during the investigation have thus convinced the chamber of the guilt of the accused,” the court said in a statement.
Ramadan was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.
He was forced to take leave of absence in 2017 when r*pe allegations surfaced in France at the height of the “Me Too” movement.
In France, he is suspected of raping three women between 2009 and 2016.
His large defence team is fighting a Paris appeals court decision in June that the cases can go to trial.