Charges brought for online rape

In an unprecedented case, a Swedish man has been charged with the online rape of girls in three different foreign countries. Sweden’s definition of rape does not require physical intercourse, but requires ‘an act deemed to be as serious a violation of sexual integrity as intercourse’. According to one of the prosecutors, ‘It’s only the sexual predator’s imagination that sets the limits. The technology knows no limits. So we have to adapt our mindset to, “What can a rape be?”‘ The charges involving 27 victims involved death and other threats unless the girls performed sexual acts while he watched on webcams. While this presents new and unusual facets of crime, prosecutors are hoping to set a precedent.