Coin Press - Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan convicted of rape on appeal in Switzerland

After being acquitted last year, a Geneva appeals court said it had found the 62-year-old former Oxford University professor "guilty of rape and sexual coercion" of a woman in a Geneva hotel 15 years ago.

It sentenced him to three years in prison, two of them suspended, marking the first guilty verdict he has been handed.

The verdict was slightly more lenient than the three years in prison -- half suspended -- requested by the prosecutor in the appeals case in May.

"Our client is of course relieved, considering what she has had to endure for the truth to come out," the woman's lawyers Veronique Fontana and Robert Assael told AFP, hailing that "the truth has finally triumphed".

Francois Zimeray, the lawyer who represented the woman during the first trial, meanwhile emphasised that the ruling "came at the cost of years of pain and hardship suffered with dignity by the plaintiff".

"We have rarely experience such brutal proceedings."

The ruling -- dated August 28 but only made public Tuesday -- was expected to be appealed at Switzerland's highest court.

One of Ramadan's French lawyers, Philippe Ohayon, slammed the "many contradictions" in the judicial process.

Ramadan, a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, has always maintained his innocence.

Ramadan's accuser, a Muslim convert identified only as "Brigitte", had testified before the court that he subjected her to rape and other violent sex acts in a Geneva hotel room during the night of October 28, 2008.

The lawyer representing Brigitte said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to "torture and barbarism".

- 'Trap' -

Ramadan said that Brigitte invited herself up to his room. He let her kiss him, he said, before quickly ending the encounter.

He said he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte 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.

The appeals verdict overturns a lower court finding last year acquitting Ramadan of rape and sexual coercion, citing a lack of evidence, contradictory testimonies and "love messages" sent by the plaintiff after the alleged assault.

But during their appeal, Brigitte's lawyers alleged that Ramadan had exercised significant "control" over the woman, suggesting she had suffered something akin to Stockholm syndrome.

The three appeals court judges pointed to "witness testimony, certificates, medical notes and private expert opinions consistent with the facts presented by the plaintiff".

"Elements collected during the investigation have thus convinced the chamber of the guilt of the accused," the court said in a statement.

Ramadan was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take leave of absence in 2017 when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the "Me Too" movement.

In France, he is suspected of raping three women between 2009 and 2016.

His large defence team is fighting a Paris appeals court decision in June that the cases can go to trial.

C.Peyronnet--CPN