French court reduces sentence of teen convicted in antisemitic gang rape of 12-year-old Jewish girl

A French court has reduced the sentence of a teenager convicted in the antisemitic gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl outside Paris in 2024.

Three boys convicted in the rape dragged the girl into a shed where they beat her and forced her to have sex while uttering death threats and antisemitic remarks, according to the charges.

The teen rapist, who was 13 at the time of crime, had his sentence reduced by the Versailles Court of Appeal from nine to seven years, according to French outlets.

“The court took into account the entire case, as required by law: the facts, their seriousness, but also the minor’s personality and the need to prepare for his future reintegration,” his lawyer, Melody Blanc says in a statement carried by Le Monde. She argues the shorter punishment was “fair, proportionate, and in accordance with fundamental legal principles.”

Two others were convicted in the rape case: another 13-year-old, who was handed seven years in the original sentencing; and the girl’s ex-boyfriend, who was 12 at the time and could not be sentenced to jail due to his age. He was placed in closed foster care for five years, according to reports.

Neither of them appealed their sentences.

The victim’s lawyers, Muriel Ouaknine-Melki and Oudy Bloch, lauded her “courage” in a statement, and said: “The most important thing is that she succeeded in bringing the perpetrators of her assault to justice and that two of them are incarcerated.”