Two Carabinieri officers
have been placed under investigation on suspicion of raping two
American university students while on duty in central Florence
between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, sources said
Friday.
The 20-year-old women, who have not been named, were
questioned again Friday and confirmed that they were raped by
the two Carabinieri.
Judicial sources said police had interviewed the women again
separately and found no inconsistencies in the stories they
provided.
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 near the central
up-market Via Tornabuoni, 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.
The women were both said to be 20 years of age, and not 21 as
previously reported.
They were reportedly enrolled in one of the largest, private
and Italian-run campuses in Florence that hosts American
students.
It receives up to 1,000 from various colleges each semester,
source said.
The US State Department told ANSA it was "taking very
seriously" the allegations by the two university students.
The US consul-general in Florence, Benjamin Wohlauer, met
Florence police chief Alberto Intini for just under an hour
Friday and left police HQ without commenting on the
headline-grabbing case.
Wohlauer also met with Carabinieri provincial chiefs and
received assurances that the case would be treated with the
"utmost transparency and rigour".
The Carabinieri voiced their determination to "reassure all
foreign citizens that the Corps has always been on the side of
people, and will continue to be so.
"This episode," they said, "must not undermine the hard work
of men and women who put their lives on the line for citizens
every day".
Florence has more US university branches than almost all
Italian cities and there are also very many schools for
foreigners learning Italian.
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