Stockholm: A Swedish court on Monday sentenced a Frenchman at the heart of a Nobel scandal to two years in jail for rape in a scandal that emerged during the #MeToo campaign.
An influential figure in Stockholm's cultural scene, Jean-Claude Arnault, 72, went on trial last month on two counts of rape relating to incidents dating back to 2011.
In its ruling on Monday, the Stockholm district court found him guilty on one of the charges while acquitting him of the other. “The defendant is found guilty of rape committed during the night between the 5th and 6th of October 2011 and has been sentenced to imprisonment for two years,” a court statement said.
“The injured party has been awarded compensation for damages.”Prosecutors had called for a minimum sentence of three years in what was one of the first big trials to come out of the #MeToo movement.
“There is no reason why the sentence should be less than two years,” presiding judge Gudrun Antemar told a press conference, saying the victim had been put in a situation where she was “helpless”.
Arnault is married to a member of Swedish Academy which selects Nobel Literature Prize winner, with scandal prompting postponement of this year's award.
