German parliament approves tougher laws on sexual offence
Xinhua, July 7, 2016 Adjust font size:
The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, passed a resolution on Thursday to tighten sexual crime laws, six months after the New Year's Eve sex attacks in German cities.
The so-called disapproval solution enshrined the principle of "No means No" in German laws which apply to sex crimes.
As a result, offenders can be prosecuted not only when they enforce sexual acts upon a victim using violence or the threat of violence, but also when they defy the "identifiable intention" of the victim.
The "identifiable intention" must be either verbally expressed or expressed for example by defense, according to the revised law.
According to the revised German Criminal Code 177, a conviction of imprisonment or a juvenile sentence, depending on the degree of the penalty, should lead to easier deportation of the foreign offenders.
"I am glad that the change in sexual offenses is finally decided. This is a big step toward improving the protection of sexual self-determination," German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said ahead of the parliamentary debate.
On New Year's Eve, a group of about 1,000 women were surrounded, harassed and robbed by men in the western German city of Cologne. Endit