GENEVA
\nA Swiss court on Wednesday found Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan not guilty of rape and sexual coercion in a Geneva hotel 15 years ago, with his accuser immediately indicating she would appeal.
\nThe court also decided to compensate the former Oxford University professor for his legal costs, awarding him up to 151,000 Swiss francs ($167,000), but rejecting his claim for moral damages.
\n\u201cThe accused must have the benefit of the doubt,\u201d Yves Maurer-Cecchini, the president of the Geneva Criminal Court, said, citing a lack of evidence, contradictory testimonies and \u201clove messages\u201d sent by the plaintiff after the alleged assault.
\n\u201cTariq Ramadan must be acquitted.\u201d
\nFollowing the verdict, the 60-year-old Swiss academic \u2014 a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam \u2014 smiled and hugged one of his daughters.
\nRamadan\u2019s 57-year-old accuser \u2014 identified only under the assumed name of \u201cBrigitte\u201d due to her concerns for her safety \u2014 left the courtroom before the end of the verdict was read out.
\nHer lawyers said they would appeal against the ruling.
\n\u201cThis deeply unfair decision is the reflection of a caricatural hearing from which dignity was absent and where the word of my client was neither heard nor respected,\u201d lawyer Francois Zimeray told AFP.
\nRamadan left the court surrounded by his relatives, smiling but without commenting.
\n\u201cIt is a verdict inspired by reason,\u201d said his Swiss lawyer Yael Hayat.
\nHis French lawyer Philippe Ohayon told AFP: \u201cToo many implausibilities and contradictions led to a perfectly logical acquittal in fact and in law.\u201d
\nProsecutors had been seeking a three-year sentence for Ramadan, half of which would have been served behind bars.
\nBoth parties agreed that Ramadan and Brigitte, a convert to Islam, spent the night together in the hotel room.
\nThe indictment accused Ramadan of sexual coercion and of committing rape three times during the night.
\nThe lawyer representing Brigitte said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to \u201ctorture and barbarism.\u201d
\nRamadan said that Brigitte invited herself up to his room. He let her kiss him, before quickly ending the encounter. He said he was the victim of a \u201ctrap.\u201d
\nBrigitte 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.
\nIn its ruling, the Geneva court found Brigitte\u2019s account was \u201cgenerally constant and detailed.\u201d
\nHowever, it was not corroborated \u201cby any material element, such as traces of semen or blood, security camera footage from the hotel or findings of traumatic injuries or gynaecological violence.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no doubt that the complainant felt like she had a bad experience that evening,\u201d the president of the court said, but \u201cthe existence of this stress (…) does not make it possible to confirm the materiality of the alleged facts.\u201d
\nControversial among secularists who see him as a supporter of political Islam, Ramadan obtained a doctorate from the University of Geneva, with a thesis focused on his grandfather, who founded Egypt\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood movement.
\nHe was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.
\nHe was forced to take a leave of absence in 2017 when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the \u201cMe Too\u201d movement.
\nIn France, he is suspected of committing rape against four women, between 2009 and 2016.
\nThe Paris prosecutor\u2019s office requested his referral to an assize court in July. Judges will decide whether or not to proceed with a trial.
\nAsked about any impact the Geneva case might have on the French file, his lawyer Hayat, said: \u201cWe simply hope that this verdict will resonate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA A Swiss court on Wednesday found Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan not guilty of rape and sexual coercion in a Geneva hotel 15 years ago, with his accuser immediately indicating she would appeal. The court also decided to compensate the former Oxford University professor for his legal costs, awarding him up to 151,000 Swiss francs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n