Two US students accuse Italian paramilitary policemen of rape

The allegations levelled against the policemen have dismayed the Italian establishment.

Two American students have accused the Carabinieri policemen of raping them in Florence.

The two women, aged 19 and 21, have said they were raped in the early hours of 7 September after they were given a lift home from a nightclub in the Italian city by a Carabinieri police patrol. The two policemen have denied the accusations.

Italian media say the police were called to the nightclub after a fight broke out on the premises. The students told investigators that two officers had offered to give them a ride back to their residence.

The students said they were raped inside the building before they could reach their rooms.

“Investigations are still ongoing, but there is some basis regarding the allegations,” Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti told a conference late on Friday.

“Rape is always a serious matter. But it’s of unprecedented seriousness if it is committed by Carabinieri in uniform.” The Carabinieri is a paramilitary police force under the control of the Defence Ministry. It works alongside the national police, which is controlled by the Interior Ministry. Italian media say the two women, who come from the states of Maine and New Jersey, told investigators they had drunk alcohol and smoked canna- bis the night of the attack. They said they had been too frightened to scream as the alleged assault took place. Police are carrying out DNA tests to try to verify their accusations.

The case comes less than two weeks after a Polish tourist and Peruvian transsexual were raped in the seaside resort of Rimini.