24 M.C. v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT (i) Belgium 130. The list in Article 375 of the Belgian Criminal Code, amended in 1989, of situations where there is no consent was meant to preserve the case-law dating from before 1989. The list of situations is not considered to be exhaustive, although one commentator is of the opposite opinion. 131. Historically, what was required to prove rape was proof of sufficiently serious and physically violent acts to break, paralyse or destroy the resistance of the victim. The 1989 amendments replaced the notion of “serious threats” (present in the Criminal Code since 1867) with the broader notion of “coercion” which includes not only fear for one's physical integrity but also any other general fear. 132. Nowadays, the prosecution is required to prove sexual penetration and lack of consent. Any elements that might show lack of consent will be taken into account, but the prosecution will mostly try to prove the existence of at least one of the factors “nullifying consent”, set out in the second paragraph of Article 375, namely violence, coercion, ruse or disability. 133. Lack of consent is proved where there is proof of physical resistance. However, even if there is no proof of physical violence or physical resistance, proof of coercion is sufficient. Whether or not there was coercion is a question to be assessed with reference to the capacities of the victim (age, actual state at the time of the facts). 134. There is a different age of consent for sexual acts of any kind (statutory indecent assault) on the one hand, and for acts involving sexual penetration (statutory rape) on the other. The age of consent for sexual penetration is 14 years and the age of consent for sexual acts of any kind is 16 years. As a result, sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 to 16, in the absence of proof of lack of consent, would be punished as statutory indecent assault. In practice, where the victim is between 14 and 16 years, charges of statutory indecent assault are more frequent than charges of rape. (ii) Denmark 135. Coercion is nowadays understood broadly and is not limited to threats of serious violence. 136. Evidence of lack of consent is particularly important in cases where the accused and the victim knew each other. While the act of saying “no” would be a sufficient expression of lack of consent, proving that it was said and understood as being meant seriously could be difficult. 137. In a case from 1982, a man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl was acquitted on the ground that he had not understood that the intercourse had been involuntary. The accused had taken the girl for a ride in his van. According to him, the girl had wished to be taken to her home. According to the girl, she had felt compelled to accept the offer to be taken home because of the situation, particularly once the accused had put his bicycle in his car.