ROME, (Reuters) – A ruling by Italy’s highest appeals court that said those charged with gang rape do not always have to go to prison while awaiting trial has outraged women’s groups and some politicians who fear it will make rape a “third-class crime”.

Alessandra Mussolini

The court, ruling on a point of law in the appeal of two 19-year-old men charged with gang raping a 13-year-old girl, said on Thursday that judges could decide on a case-by-case basis whether to prescribe jail, house arrest or other forms of detention such as checking in with police once a day while they were awaiting trial.

Pre-trial custody was previously obligatory for those charged with gang rape while house arrest was permissible in some cases of those charged with rape committed by an individual, particularly a minor.

Critics fear the ruling could encourage some judges to mete out lenient sentences in future gang rape cases.

“This is a ruling that risks making gang rape a third-class crime,” said Giulia Bongiorno, one of Italy’s most famous criminal lawyers. “Given that rape is already an abominable crime, gang rape is even worse – if that is possible. But there is a cultural problem in Italy. Many people consider theft or purse-snatching crimes worse than rape,” she said.

Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of Italy’s wartime fascist dictator and now a right-wing parliamentarian, called the ruling “abhorrent” and said it was a “time bomb waiting to go off” that could risk increasing the rate of rape.