Copenhagen: The man at the centre of a sex-abuse and financial crimes scandal that is tarnishing the academy that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature was convicted Monday and sentenced to two years in prison for a rape in 2011.
Jean-Claude Arnault, a major cultural figure in Sweden, had faced two counts of rape of a woman seven years ago. Stockholm District Court said that the ruling was unanimous.
Judge Gudrun Antemar said the role of the court was to decide whether the prosecutor had proven the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
"The court's conclusion is that the evidence is enough to find the defendant guilty of one of the events," she said, adding the evidence "has mainly consisted of statements made during the trial by the injured party and several witnesses."
In Sweden, rape is punishable by a minimum of two years and a maximum of six years in prison.
Prosecutor Christina Voigt had demanded three years in prison for Arnault, who is married to a Swedish Academy member.
Arnault had denied the charges, which have rocked the prestigious academy, with seven members either being forced to leave or quitting in April.
In May, the academy announced that no prize would be awarded this year.
Last week, the head of the Nobel Foundation said that the foundation could drop the Swedish Academy from awarding its prestigious annual literature prize if the Academy does not make further changes in the wake of a recent sex scandal.
"If things continue in this way, and if they don't manage to regain legitimacy, then we might be forced to take drastic steps," Lars Heikensten said.
"One of those steps could be asking permission to have some other organization being responsible for the prize."
The Academy is working to rebuild its reputation after a sex scandal involving the husband of one its members. The incident prompted some of the Academy's 18 members to quit. It also forced the Academy to postpone the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The husband, Jean-Claude Arnault, has repeatedly denied any wrong-doing.
Heikensten said the Academy had taken its first positive step by agreeing on a reinterpretation of its bylaws to allow it to deal with issues including the need to hire several new members and remove others.
"They need to look at the composition of the Nobel committee, those who are most involved with the prize, so that the committee consists of people who are competent and have not been involved in a negative way with what has happened," he said.