Youths cleared of rape sue pupil for slander
An 18-year-old Bulgarian girl who in 2006 brought charges of rape against four of her fellow pupils at a school in the small town of Amarynthos on Evia is being sued for perjury and slander by her alleged attackers, who were exonerated last month, it emerged yesterday. The decision by a juvenile court in Halkida at the end of last month to clear four youths charged with the gang rape of the girl in the toilets of their school sparked outrage and protests by local and national women’s organizations. The court ruled that the boys did engage in group sex but that the girl, aged 15 at the time, had consented to it. In her testimony, the girl claimed that each of the youths had taken turns to rape her while the others held her down. The girl moved to an Athens school after the alleged attack to complete her studies.
