Prosecutors plan appeal in gang rape case

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PARIS, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- French prosecutors say the acquittal of 10 men charged with repeated sexual assaults of two teenage girls more than a decade ago is an outrage.

Prosecutors also plan to appeal the sentences given four other men convicted Wednesday in the rapes that took place from 1999 to 2001, Radio France Internationale reported. Their punishment ranged from a year to a three-year suspended sentence.

The two victims, who were living in Fontenay-sous-Bois, a Paris suburb, at the time of the attacks, said they were repeatedly raped and physically assaulted by gangs of teenagers who threatened to kill their families if they told anyone.

The two women only came forward years later to tell their story.

Nathalie Becache, prosecutor for Creteil, said the sentences and the acquittals do not take into account the damage done the two victims. Prosecutors had asked for five to seven years for most of the defendants.