Migrant acquitted of rape: the story goes on

Last week, we informed you about yet another refugee-related disinformation seen in pro-Kremlin media: Pervy Kanal claimed that a migrant, who had raped a 10-year-old boy, was acquitted by the Austrian justice, whereas in fact he is still in custody awaiting a new trial that could give him an even higher penalty than expected.

Fake stories are hard to kill
Although the story was quickly shown to be fake, President Putin repeated it publicly a few days later: “You saw what happens — an immigrant raped a child in one of the European countries. The court acquitted him for two reasons: one, he did not speak the host country’s language; and, two, he didn’t know that the boy — and it was a boy — objected.”

The President added: “A society that cannot defend its children today, has no tomorrow.” This addition became the quote which carried the story further into the media during the last days, in numerous European languages – e.g. in English (Russia Insider), in German (Epoch Times), in Greek, in Czech (Aeronet).

Videos with the President’s statement were widely circulated on YouTube and Facebook without reference to the facts underlying the remarks.