Ten and a half years in prison for comedian Russell Brand

Barcelona"You are intelligent and, in the eyes of many people, funny and charismatic. But you also became a sexual predator." With these remarks, Judge Joel Bennathan opens his sentence condemning comedian Russell Brand to ten and a half years in prison for a crime of rape and three sexual assaults. It was already known that he was considered guilty since last week, but the sentence remained to be determined, which finally entails this decade of incarceration. Brand received the verdict without showing apparent emotions: he told his wife that everything would be fine and was escorted out of the London court by the police. The judge has considered him innocent of two other charges, also of a sexual nature, for which he was accused.

Brand's popularity in the United Kingdom, where he is a polarizing figure due to his heterodox ideas, has generated a broad debate that has transcended the case. Specifically, the defense's line has been examined, based on recalling that the victims did not try to resist Brand while he was assaulting them and that, furthermore, they took several years to report events (which date back to 1999). The judge has determined that the victim's reaction can be paralysis and that this does not diminish the gravity of a rape. And that, due to the traumatic nature of the action, it may take a long time to dare to report it.

Brand, a father of three, has always denied having done anything wrong in these cases and claimed that the sexual encounters had taken place with consent. He also claimed to be the victim of a media conspiracy, since the case emerged following a journalistic investigation led by the newspaper The Times and the television station Channel 4. The comedian explains that he is just a promiscuous man who enjoys sex without commitment, while the prosecution profiled him as someone toxic who boasted about wanting to reach the figure of 5,000 women he had slept with.