An accusation of sexual offenses can involve you suddenly through a summons, a search, the seizure of your phone, or an order limiting contact with the offended person. If the proceeding takes place in Milan, you need to understand immediately what act is contested, what elements have already been collected, and what behaviors may compromise the defense.
In this guide, I want to clarify why not all sexually motivated accusations follow the same rules, how consent and the statements of the people involved are evaluated, and what guarantees operate during investigations. I will also explain how to properly protect messages and other digital data, how to deal with any precautionary measure, and what choices may arise before trial.
The first point is to understand which offense is contested
"Sexual offense" does not indicate a single legal category. Sexual violence provided for by Article 609-bis of the Criminal Code includes coercion through violence, threats, or abuse of authority, and certain forms of inducement carried out by taking advantage of conditions of physical or psychological inferiority or through personation. The regulatory text also distinguishes the hypothesis of lesser gravity: it is not an automatic consequence, but requires an overall assessment of the fact. The regulatory framework can be consulted in the institutional text recalling articles on sexual crimes.
Sexual acts do not coincide solely with complete intercourse. Different bodily contacts can also assume relevance when, due to their modalities, the area of the body involved, and the context, they affect a person's sexual freedom. For this reason, a generic reconstruction such as "there was only contact" is not enough: it is necessary to establish which gesture is described, at what time, and under what conditions.
The qualification changes with the facts. The participation of multiple people can lead to the allegation of group sexual violence provided for by Article 609-octies; the age of the offended person may invoke Article 609-quater; an affective relationship, a relationship of authority, or particular conditions of the person can affect aggravating circumstances. Presence at the scene, participation in the offense, and material execution must not be confused: the role attributed to each person must emerge from concrete conduct.
Procedural conditions must also be defined with precision. For facts attributable to Articles 609-bis and 609-ter, the discipline of the criminal complaint provides for a twelve-month term and the irrevocability of the complaint presented, but establishes important cases of ex officio prosecution, including certain hypotheses concerning minors, qualified subjects, or connections with other crimes. The reference is Article 609-septies, reported in the Official Journal of Law No. 69 of July 19, 2019. It is therefore incorrect to assume that the proceeding ends because personal relationships have changed.
Consent and dissent must be reconstructed at the time of the fact
Consent must accompany the sexual act. A previous relationship, an acquaintance, an affectionate message, or initial consent do not automatically authorize every subsequent behavior. Consent may lapse during the act and must also concern the modalities concretely adopted. The Court of Cassation reconstructed these principles in the report on the criminal protection of sexual freedom.
The trial does not resolve into one person's word against the other's. The statements of the offended person are a source of proof, and the judge evaluates their precision, consistency, stability, and integration into the complex of available elements. However, there is no numerical rule according to which multiple witnesses are strictly necessary, nor does the mere presence of a complaint automatically determine the responsibility of the accused.
External data can confirm or challenge individual steps. Complete conversations, calls, photographs, access to places, videos, movements, testimonies, and medical documentation can help define timelines and conduct. A subsequent message does not prove by itself that there was consent beforehand; likewise, the absence of injuries does not automatically clarify whether the fact occurred or what will was expressed.
The context cannot replace the contested fact. Private life, habits, clothing, or previous relationships are not shortcuts to affirm consent or unreliability. The defense must focus on the points truly connected to the episode: chronology, perceptions, words used, observable behaviors, and compatibility between statements and objective data.
When a minor is involved, age is not the only criterion
It is not enough to recall a generic age of consent. Article 609-quater regulates sexual acts with a person who has not reached the age of fourteen and provides specific rules for those who have not reached the age of sixteen when the other person holds certain family, educational, care, vigilance, custody, or cohabitation roles. Further hypotheses concern the abuse of trust, authority, or influence deriving from particular relationships. The various conditions are indicated in the current text of Article 609-quater.
There is a circumscribed provision for relationships between close-in-age minors. Outside of cases of sexual violence, a minor who performs sexual acts with another minor who is at least thirteen years old is not punishable, provided the age difference does not exceed four years. This rule does not extend to adults and does not eliminate the need to verify freedom and consent.
The adult's role can become decisive. A teacher, educator, coach, custodian, or cohabitant is not in the same position as someone lacking influence over the minor. Even when age exceeds a certain threshold, the abuse of power, trust, or influence can radically modify the framework. It is therefore necessary to reconstruct the concrete relationship, not limit oneself to birth dates.
Investigations require timely choices, not improvised explanations
The first document received does not always contain the entire file. You may become aware of the investigation through a search, a seizure, an invitation to appear, the application of a precautionary measure, or the notice of conclusion of investigations. In the early stages, some acts may still be covered by investigative secrecy; this makes it risky to formulate a reconstruction without precisely knowing the charge.
You have the right not to answer questions about the fact. Silence is not equivalent to a confession. Making statements, requesting an interrogation, or filing a brief are different choices: speaking can clarify documentable data, but it can also fix an incomplete version that will be compared with still-unknown elements. I help you distinguish the emotional urgency to reply from the procedural usefulness of a statement.
The notice of conclusion of investigations opens a precise defensive space. Article 415-bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the suspect and defense counsel to inspect the deposited files and, within the indicated term, present briefs and documents, file the results of defensive investigations, request further activities, or request an interrogation. The relevant current text of Article 415-bis shows why this phase is not a mere formality.
Testimony may be gathered in advance. In proceedings for certain sexual offenses, evidentiary hearings (incidente probatorio) allow evidence to be taken during investigations, in contradictory proceedings between the parties, also to avoid repeated hearings of the offended person. It is not an anticipated judgment of guilt: however, it is a decisive moment, because the statement can permanently enter the proceeding. The Joint Sessions clarified the prerequisites of this institution in the decision on evidentiary hearings in offenses indicated by Article 392.
Messages, phones, and social media can become evidence
Do not delete and do not modify data. Deleting chats, replacing a device, cropping screenshots, or tampering with social profiles can cause favorable information to be lost and generate doubts about the integrity of the material. Even an unpleasant conversation must be preserved in its context, including dates, attachments, previous messages, and subsequent replies.
An isolated screenshot has evident limits. It may not show the actual sender, the complete sequence, or any deleted content. When digital data is central, authenticity, origin, and completeness count as much as visible text. The defense can carry out defensive investigations and acquire lawful elements, but it cannot unlawfully access others' accounts or suggest pressure on witnesses.
Avoid any social media trial. Publishing private messages, names, or reconstructions of the event can expose involved people, compromise the strategy, and produce further legal consequences. The need to defend oneself does not authorize public campaigns against the person who filed the complaint.
Precautionary measures must be respected until the judge modifies them
A precautionary measure is not a conviction. The judge can apply it only in the presence of the prerequisites provided by the code, evaluating clues, precautionary needs, and the adequacy of the restriction. In proceedings for sexual offenses, eviction from the family home, prohibition of approach, prohibition of communication, or, in the most serious cases, custodial measures may assume relevance.
The prohibition of approach contains concrete orders. Article 282-ter of the Code of Criminal Procedure can impose a distance of not less than five hundred meters and electronic monitoring modalities, in addition to the prohibition to communicate. The prescriptions and possible work or housing needs are described in the current text of Article 282-ter.
Contact initiated by the offended person does not suspend the order. Phone calls, invitations, or reconciliations do not authorize the person subjected to the measure to violate it: the provision remains effective until the judge intervenes. The Court of Cassation reaffirmed this also in ruling no. 27223 deposited on July 20, 2026. If circumstances change, the correct path is to request revocation or substitution, not to privately agree on an exception.
Confidentiality means protection, not invisibility of the proceeding
The relationship with defense counsel is confidential. Personal information, documents, and strategy must be handled with particular care, especially when the file concerns sexuality, health, affective relationships, or minors. Communications with family members and acquaintances should also be limited to what is truly necessary.
No one can guarantee absolute secrecy regarding the existence of the investigation. Searches, notifications, hearings, and precautionary measures involve authorities and, in some cases, third parties. Professional confidentiality reduces unnecessary exposure, but does not allow acts owed to justice to be withheld. It is also essential not to seek indirect contact through friends, relatives, or alternative profiles.
Possible strategies before trial
An active defense does not necessarily coincide with an immediate interrogation. Based on available acts, it may be useful to file documents, indicate witnesses, carry out defensive investigations, contest a seizure, request the modification of a measure, or wait until the investigative picture becomes knowable. Every initiative must respond to a specific point of the accusation.
Dismissal, alternative trials, and trial proceedings have different effects. Dismissal depends on the public prosecutor's evaluation and the judge's control in the provided cases. The abbreviated trial normally entails a decision based on collected acts, whereas ordinary trial proceedings allow the formation of evidence before the judge through examination and cross-examination. Convenience is not measured solely by possible sentence reduction: legal qualification, usability of evidence, accessory consequences, and defensive objectives all matter.
Preparing the first meeting requires a few orderly elements. Bring the received document, indicate any deadlines or precautionary prescriptions, and keep the devices without tampering with the contents. An essential chronology, separating what you remember from what you can document, helps immediately identify points that require a response and those on which it is more prudent not to formulate hypotheses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to answer immediately if I am summoned?
You are not obliged to immediately explain the fact. You have the right to assistance by defense counsel and, in the forms provided by the code, not to answer. Before choosing, it is necessary to understand in what capacity you are summoned, what allegation is addressed to you, and which acts are knowable. A spontaneous statement and an interrogation do not have the same function.
Do previous messages prove consent?
Not automatically. They can document the relationship, the organization of the meeting, or specific agreements, but consent must subsist during the act and can be revoked. Complete conversations are needed, not isolated screenshots, and their meaning must be compared with timelines, statements, and other available data.
Can a complaint without witnesses lead to a trial?
Yes, the absence of direct witnesses does not close the proceeding by itself. The offended person's statements are evaluated by the judge together with the other elements. The defense can contest their precision and consistency and indicate contrary data, but cannot presume that external proof is strictly necessary for the accusation to be examined.
Can I contact the person who filed the complaint?
Do not do so if a measure prohibits it. Even without an express prohibition, contact can be interpreted as pressure, interference, or an attempt to coordinate versions. If practical reasons exist to communicate, for example regarding children or common assets, lawful modalities compatible with any provisions must be identified.
Will the proceeding remain completely secret?
Confidentiality has concrete limits. The relationship with defense counsel is protected, but notifications, investigative acts, hearings, and measures may involve authorities or third parties. It is possible to reduce unnecessary exposure by avoiding social media, uncontrolled communications, and the dissemination of documents, without however promising that the existence of the proceeding will remain unknown.
Facing the proceeding in an orderly manner
Initial decisions can affect subsequent phases. If you have received a document in Milan or fear being involved in an investigation for sexual offenses, you can contact me to understand the allegation, the prescriptions to be respected, and the defensive options compatible with available elements.