3 Men Arrested After Gang Rape Of Swedish Woman Was Live-Streamed On Facebook
The men were arrested on the spot.
By Sadho Ram — 25 Jan 2017, 02:57 PM
Police have arrested three men in Sweden on suspicion of raping a young woman inside an apartment and broadcasting it live on a closed Facebook group, according to Swedish authorities
According to a BBC report, a woman contacted police in Uppsala, Sweden to say that she had seen a gang rape broadcast live in a closed group on Facebook.
She reported one of the men having said "You have been raped," then laughing at the end of the Facebook Live video. The victim was reportedly "close to unconscious."
Police later confirmed they, and "many" others, had seen the footage, reported BBC.
The men, aged between 19 and 25, were arrested on the spot
Swedish newspaper Expressen acquired some screenshots of the Facebook Live video that show police walking into the apartment during the live broadcast.
Josefine Lundgren, the woman who called the police when she saw the footage, said she saw one of the men tear the woman's clothes off and lie on top of her.
Speaking to Expressen, she also said one of the suspects pulled out a gun on camera, appearing to try to threaten viewers, and say, "Come here, then!"
Police spokeswoman Lisa Sannervik said the investigation into "a serious sexual offence" is in a preliminary phase and she could not provide further details. Meanwhile, no charges have been pressed.
Christine Chen, a Facebook spokeswoman, told The New York Times that, "this is a hideous crime and we do not tolerate this kind of content on Facebook," added that "if someone does violate our community standards while using (Facebook) Live, we want to interrupt these streams as quickly as possible when they're reported to us. So we've given people a way to report violations during a live broadcast."
It is not the first crime to have been broadcast on Facebook Live
While Facebook Live is regularly used by news organisations for on-the-scene reporting, and by others for various reasons, the platform has been used for violent crimes.
Earlier in January this year, four people were charged for a hate crime in the US city of Chicago after a live-streamed video on Facebook showed a mentally disabled man being tortured.
In June 2016, Antonio Perkins was shot dead while live-streaming a video of himself on Facebook.