Arrests have been made involving the gang rape of an American female tourist by three men in a public van in Brazil.
The 21-year-old woman and her male companion were abducted in the district of Copacabana after the attackers forced passengers off a public van and hijacked the vehicle. The male companion was tied up and beaten with a metal bar while witnessing the three assailants repeatedly rape the woman, reports the New York Times. The couple was released six hours later at a bus station near Rio de Janeiro, and the victims received treatment at two public hospitals.
Over the weekend, Brazilian authorities arrested two suspects, Jonathan Foudakis de Souza and Wallace Aparecido Souza Silva, after tracking purchases made with the victims' stolen credit cards and obtaining security footage. The two suspects have been positively identified by the two foreign victims, and by a Brazilian woman who claims to have been assaulted by the men on March 23. The final suspect, Carlos Armando Costa dos Santos, was arrested Monday night, according to CNN.
The New York Times points out that there were 5,300 reported cases of rape in the first half of the 2012 year alone -- 90 percent of those were by women. This was more than a 150 percent increase in cases since 2009, the year when the legal definition of rape in Brazil was changed.
"The characteristics of both crimes, both the Brazilian case and the one with the foreigners, lead us to believe that they (the suspects) wanted to have a 'party of evil,' in quotes," said commanding officer Alexandre Braga, according to the New York Daily News, to Brazil's O Globo newspaper. "The principal motive appears to have been the satisfaction of their lust."
Brazil is facing scrutiny with the recent rape case since the city will be hosting three high profile events in the near future: World Youth Day with Pope Francis, the 2014 World Cup, and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Media outlets have also been drawing comparisons to the high profile gang rape case in Delhi, India where six men beat and raped a 23-year-old student on a private bus, which resulted in protests across the country, and the more recent robbery and rape of a Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradhesh, India.
Read more about international tourist violence here:
Acapulco Tourists Raped By Masked Men; 6 Women Attacked By Thugs
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