Sexuelle Gewalt und Vergewaltigung

The defendant was convicted of trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution after the lower court found that he lured the victims from Hungary into Austria under the false pretext that they could work as cleaners in an Austrian Hotel and then threatened them with injury or death to force them to work as prostitutes. The Austrian Supreme Court upheld the conviction on appeal. The Regional Court of Vienna’s decision from May 25, 2011 [021 Hv 8/11i-48] was not available at the time of publication.

The appellant, a Somali girl, applied to the Austrian government for asylum and international protection due to her precarious situation in Yemen. The appellant’s family fled to Yemen when she was four years old because her family was discriminated against in Somalia due to their affiliation with a Madhibaan minority clan. The plaintiff’s brother and father were killed and no other family remained in Somalia. Further, female genital mutilation is a common practice in Somalia.

The petitioners were found guilty of violating several provisions of the Austrian Criminal Code after the regional court found that they acted as a criminal organization to recruit victims by means of extortion, massive violence, penalties for not performing sex work, and threats, and arranged for the victims’ transfer and accommodation in brothels in Austria. After an appeal on procedural grounds, the Austrian Supreme Court upheld the convictions. The Regional Court Leoben’s decision from April 28, 2009 [13 Hv 122/08x-492] was not available at the time of publication.

Section 321a (1) and (3) provide that a person who holds a woman captive who has been impregnated through the use of coercion, with the intent to influence the ethnic composition of a population or to commit other serious violations of international law, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5-15 years, or, if such an act results in the death of a person, a term of 10-20 years or life imprisonment. The abovementioned applies where such acts are performed as part of an extended or  systematic attack against a civilian population.

Section 201 states that a person who coerces another person, by force, deprivation of personal liberty, or by threat to life, to perform or tolerate sexual intercourse, or a sexual act equivalent to sexual intercourse, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 2-10 years. If the act causes serious bodily harm or pregnancy of the raped person, or if the act places the raped person in a state of agony for a prolonged period of time or humiliates that person in an extraordinary way, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 5-15 years.