New rape cases in Russia have shot up by 72%, according to federal prosecutors’ criminal data cited by the state-run TASS news agency Friday.
Authorities opened 296 rape and attempted rape cases in January, 72.1% more than they did in January 2019. Rape made up 0.18% of all crimes committed in January 2020, according to the cited Prosecutor General’s Office data.
Polls in recent years have said that a quarter of Russian women say they’ve experienced sexual violence.
Extremism-related crimes also saw a dramatic rise, increasing by 77% from 35 last year to 62 in 2020. Authorities opened 118 terrorism cases in January 2020 compared to 124 in January 2019.
Telecommunications-related crimes and fraud were most common in absolute numbers, at 28,000 and 22,000 in January 2020 respectively, according to the data cited by TASS.
