Police in Brazil are hunting 33 men who gang-raped a 16-year-old girl and posted footage of the attack online.
The girl was assaulted by armed men on Saturday while visiting a shantytown on the west side of Rio de Janeiro and did not regain consciousness until Sunday morning.
The men, who have been described as drug dealers, posted obscene screen shots of the video on Twitter, some of them featuring their faces, along with profane descriptions of their actions.
The images received hundreds of comments before the Twitter accounts were suspended.
Police said they issued warrants for the arrests of four men, including the girl’s 19-year-old boyfriend.
He and another man, 41, are facing charges of rape, while two other men face charges for the distribution of images of the attacks on social networks, reports The Globe and Mail.
The state Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rio has received hundreds of complaints from distressed members of the public who saw the images when they were first posted on Tuesday.
The girl’s grandmother told Brazilian media the family watched the video and cried.
“I regretted watching it. When we heard the story we didn’t believe what was happening. It’s a great affliction. It’s a depressing situation,” she told Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.
“She is not well. She is very confused. This was very serious.”
The attack has shocked Brazil, and campaign groups have been already been calling for protests over the coming days.
There has also been an outpouring of anger on social media, under the hashtag #EstuproNuncaMais (Rape never again).
The Sao Paulo feminist advocacy organisation Think Olga issued a statement on the attack.
“Women worldwide take their own lives when they find themselves in such circumstances, because they fear the same impunity that allows their perpetrators to defame them on social media,” it said.
“This absurd violation of their privacy is comparable in severity to the crime itself, because it multiplies thousands of times with every view, every click.”
