By international Workers’ Unity – Fourth International
27th April 2024. The New York Court of Appeals on Thursday 25 April overturned one of the sexual abuse convictions against film producer Harvey Weinstein. The overturned ruling is the one that sentenced him to 23 years in prison in March 2020. In any case, the mogul will remain in prison serving the 16-year sentence for another rape.
The argument used by the court to overturn the ruling is that there were errors in the 2020 court proceedings. A formality that Weinstein’s defence used in its appeal and which was accepted by four of the seven magistrates to overturn the ruling and start a new trial.
The 23-year sentence for sexual abuse and rape was the result of a historic and long-awaited trial for the feminist movement. There he was tried on charges brought by two women but there were more than 90 women who publicly denounced him in 2017 in what is known as the #MeToo movement. A phenomenon that began in the United States but which has transcended borders, becoming a true rebellion against sexual violence.
From the International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI) we repudiate the annulment of one of the historic rulings that put rapist Weinstein behind bars and denounce the patriarchal justice system that seeks to guarantee his impunity. The struggle against sexual violence is one of the most important milestones of the fourth feminist wave that has been sweeping the world for years and that has been leading large mobilisations against the patriarchal system that oppresses women and dissidents. From our socialist feminism we are part of these mobilisations and we struggle so that the anti-patriarchal struggle joins the anti-capitalist struggle in the fight for a society without oppression and exploitation.
International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International
27th April 2024
