FLASHBACK: Leftist Wanted to Lower France's "Age of Consent" to 11! After Muslim Excused of Rape

Despite promises to reassess child sex laws, the rules governing consent in France are still murky. A court case involving an 11-year-old girl is being closely watched by children’s rights advocates.


Can an 11-year-old consent to sex with an adult? Legally in France, the answer is not automatically "No". A court case set to open this afternoon in the city of Pointoise, outside of Paris, will revisit that question.



It’s one that has been the source of public debate in France over the past few months.



Currently in France, the age of consent is 15, but in order to get a rape conviction prosecutors have to prove that a sex act was committed with violence, coercion, threat or surprise. Without those factors, a person can only be charged with sexual abuse, and not rape.



Sexual abuse carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of €87,000, whereas the punishment for the rape of a person under 15 is up to 20 years in prison.



Today’s case involves a 29-year-old man who allegedly had sex with an 11-year-old girl last year. In a decision that shocked many, the prosecutor chose to charge the man with “sexual abuse of a minor under 15 years old” instead of rape, the charge that the girl’s family had asked for.



Defense lawyers have said the man and the girl met in a small park and that the girl voluntarily followed the man into an apartment block and freely consented to have sex with him. They’ve also claimed that their client, then aged 28, thought the girl was over 15. She is now 12.