Failure to help rape victims remains unpunishable in Switzerland

Failing to come to the aid of a rape victim will remain unpunishable in Switzerland. Against the advice of the House of Representatives, the Senate on Monday rejected by 30 votes to 13 a Social Democrat parliamentary initiative to review the current law. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox At present, failing to help a person in imminent danger of death is punishable. This is not the case when someone is being raped in the next room, argued parliamentarian Tamara Funiciello in her text. She therefore wanted to amend the Criminal Code to make it a punishable offence not to come to the aid of a person who has suffered serious physical or sexual harm, if this is reasonable in the circumstances. The penalty would have remained a custodial sentence of up to three years or a financial penalty. + ‘Rape of short duration’ is absurd, says Swiss court She pointed out that the Federal Court acquitted a man who had left the room in which a person he knew was being raped.