Important decision
In one of its first rulings, the Supreme Court addressed the distinction between the crime of sexual assault and rape under the new provisions of the Criminal Code, effective as of January 2025. It confirmed that the specific nature of the act and the severity of the violation of the victim’s sexual integrity are decisive for legal classification.
In its decision, Case No. 3 Tdo 492/2020-309, the court rejected the appeals filed by both the convicted defendant and the Supreme Public Prosecutor and upheld the conclusion that the act should be classified as a sexual assault, not as rape. The essence of the dispute was not whether the conduct was serious and criminal, but whether the proven facts met the stricter elements of rape. Under the new legal framework, this requires that the act involve sexual intercourse or other sexual contact performed in a manner comparable to sexual intercourse. According to the Supreme Court, these elements were not proven with sufficient specificity in the case at hand to classify the act as rape.
The decision is significant for the interpretation of the new legislation on sexual offenses. At the same time, the Supreme Court emphasized that the non-penetrative nature of the act alone does not automatically preclude a finding of rape. Therefore, one cannot apply a mechanical approach; rather, it is always necessary to assess the specific circumstances of the case, the nature of the act, and the extent of the violation of the victim’s sexual integrity. The new definition of sexual assault is thus not intended to downplay serious acts, but rather to capture cases that are criminal and socially significant, even if they do not meet the legal criteria for rape.
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