French photographer in Nobel scandal jailed for rape
Stockholm, Oct 1 : A French photographer at the centre of a sexual abuse and financial misconduct scandal that led to the postponement of 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature was on Monday sentenced to two years in prison for rape.
A Swedish court found Jean-Claude Arnault, 72, guilty on one count of rape against a woman in 2011 and dismissed another count of rape in the same year against the same woman, the Guardian reported.
Arnault is married to Katarina Frostenson, a poet and a former member of the centuries-old Swedish Academy, which awards the world's most prestigious literary prize. The crisis forced the institution to cancel this year's award.
The verdict came at the start of Nobel prize week, shortly before the award for medicine was announced.
The court said there was "sufficient evidence, consisting mainly of statements during the trial by the injured party and several witnesses", to convict the defendant of one of the two counts of rape with which he had been charged.
"The defendant is found guilty of rape committed during the night between the October 5 and October 6, 2011," the court said while announcing its verdict.
It added that the victim had also been "awarded compensation for damages" and ordered Arnault to pay about $12,000.
The victim's lawyer, Elisabeth Massi Fritz, said her client was "relieved" following the verdict.
A total of 18 women accused Arnault of a range of sexual misconduct between 1996 and 2017. Most of the cases occurred too long ago to be prosecuted, but in June, charges were filed against him relating to two separate incidents involving the same woman in October 2011.
He denied all the incidents, many of which were said to have happened at properties owned by the Academy or at his literary club.
In light of the scandal, the Swedish Academy had cut ties with Arnault and commissioned an audit that found while he had not influenced decisions on awards and grants, financial support his literary club received from the Academy broke impartiality rules, as his wife was a co-owner.
The case sparked an internal conflict within the Academy and led to a wave of resignations, including by Frostenson and organisation head Sara Danius.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter had reported that an internal investigation by the Academy had concluded Arnault may have leaked the names of seven Nobel literature laureates -- the subject of heavy betting -- in advance of their announcement, including those of US singer Bob Dylan in 2016 and British playwright Harold Pinter in 2005.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
