Italy ordered to compensate woman after allegations of rape by partner dismissed as ‘normal’

ECHR rules that prosecutor’s remarks perpetuated ‘sexist stereotypes’ and downplayed gender violence

The European court of human rights has ordered the Italian state to pay compensation to a woman whose allegations of repeated rape by her partner were dismissed by a prosecutor as “normal” for men who struggle to overcome resistance from “tired” women.

The court ruled that the remarks perpetuated “sexist stereotypes” and downplayed gender violence, resulting in the woman being subjected to further victimisation.

The court also ruled that the prosecutor – and by extension the Italian justice system – had failed to provide a prompt, thorough and effective investigation as required in domestic abuse cases.

The ruling did not cite the prosecutor’s gender but Audrey Ubeda, the French citizen who made the allegations against her now ex-partner, has spoken of the “shock” at discovering it was a woman.

The case dates back to April 2021, when Ubeda, who had been living with her Italian partner in the Avellino area of southern Italy, filed a complaint with police alleging he had physically and mentally abused her and their two children, including allegedly raping her several times and holding a knife to her throat – in front of two witnesses – and implying her case would end up in the newspapers like other femicides.

Later that year, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation asked for it to be dismissed, referring to the knife incident as “a bad joke” and saying the physical violence inflicted on the children was merely disciplinary and did not exceed a parent’s authority.

The prosecutor said it was difficult to establish whether rape had occurred because the man might not have been aware of his partner’s lack of consent, “considering that it is normal for men to have to overcome a minimum level of resistance that every woman tends to display when she is tired from daily life and a man makes a sexual advance”.

The request was eventually denied and a new prosecutor assigned to the case. The accused man stood trial and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison by a court of first instance; he is currently free while he appeals against the verdict.

The ECHR ordered the Italian state to pay roughly €60,000 (£51,000) to Ubeda and her two children, who lived in a shelter for three years, ruling that authorities had violated the “prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment” towards domestic violence victims, including failing to adopt adequate measures such as assigning a family home or authorising their request to move to France.

Speaking to the Italian press in recent days, Ubeda said the ruling was “a vindication” and “a victory for all women”.

She told La Repubblica: “When my lawyer explained that a magistrate had exonerated my ex by invoking the image of a man who must overcome a woman’s resistance to have sex, I felt wounded all over again. I was shocked to then learn that those words had come from a female prosecutor.”