Swedish rape victim speaks out on Facebook

A Swedish girl struck a nerve Thursday after publishing a video on Facebook about her rape by a friend five years her senior, a day after he was sent to prison for two years.

Lovisa Nystrand, 14, initially only intended to share the video with close friends to cut short insinuations that she may not have been an innocent victim but then decided otherwise.

A day after she put the three-minute video on Facebook it had already be seen by at least 26,500 people.

More than 600 users commented, most of them expressing compassion and support.

In How it happened Nystrand faces the camera and shows small pieces of paper on which she had written details about her ordeal.

"A lot of people wrote and said they had been raped but did not dare report it to the police," Nystrand told the online edition of the mass circulation Aftonbladet . "I told them: be strong. Do it."

Nystrand had filed a complaint the night she was raped in August.

Contacted by the online edition of the tabloid Expressen, psychologist Christina Fischler said it was "normal that somebody using social networks would seek support" there.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge