FLORENCE, ITALY – Two Carabinieri officers have been placed under investigation on suspicion of raping two American university students while on duty in Florence. It happened on Wednesday night.
A 19 and 22-year-old women were questioned again Friday and confirmed that they were raped by the two Carabinieri. Forensic tests carried out on the women showed they had had sex recently. Biological samples of traces on their clothes were taken for comparison.
According to the women, the Carabinieri intervened to stop a fight in the Flo disco near Piazzale Michelangelo and then accompanied them to their apartment building in the central Borgo Santi Apostoli, where they were allegedly raped.
One Carabiniere raped one of the women in the lobby and the other officer raped her flatmate in the lift, according to a reconstruction based on the two women’s testimony.
Officials were suspended by the duty, in the meanwhile Florence prosecutors’ investigates the alleged sexual assaults. One of the two Carabinieri confirmed sexual intercourse, saying the girl was agreeable.
The US consul-general in Florence, Benjamin Wohlauer, met Florence police chief Alberto Intini and Carabinieri provincial chiefs. He received assurances that the case would be treated with the utmost transparency and rigour.