Good to know: Define rape!

HIBAPRESS-RABAT- Plural thought

Rape is a crime and according to article 222-223 of the penal code: “Any act of sexual penetration of any nature whatsoever, committed against the person of another by violence, coercion, threat or surprise, is rape. . »

The major change brought about by the law of December 1980 is the precise designation of rape as sexual penetration (whether vaginal, anal, oral or penetration by hand and objects), which distinguishes it from sexual assaults which are offences and fall under the jurisdiction of the criminal court.

Rape is punishable by a prison sentence of fifteen years, but perpetrators of aggravated rape face a sentence of twenty years. Aggravated rape is defined as when the act is committed on a minor under the age of fifteen, on a vulnerable person, by a natural or adoptive ascendant, by a person in authority, with the threat or use of a weapon, by several persons acting as perpetrators or accomplices (gang rape), accompanied by torture or resulting in mutilation, disability or death.

An adult victim has ten years after the incident to file a complaint in the event of rape and three years for sexual assault.

If the rape was committed when the victim was a minor at the time of the events, the limitation period is calculated from the victim’s majority and was increased to twenty years by law no. 2004-204 of March 9, 2004 (it was previously 10 years).