Ljubljana - Five men charged with raping a 15-year-old girl last year appeared before the Ljubljana District Court on Friday for a pre-trial hearing, but the judge closed the proceedings and the trial that is to follow for the public to protect the privacy of the victim.

Four suspects, aged 20, 21 and 23, are currently in detention, the newspaper Dnevnik reported on Saturday. One of them is also accused of a sexual assault against a 14-year old girl and of two counts related to pornographic material.

The fifth man involved in the rape will not be tried because he was still underage at the time of the crime. The prosecution proposed a procedure for underage persons.

The five men are accused of raping the girl in March 2020 after one of them befriended her on social media and the pair arranged to meet.

One of the defendants took her in a car to a place where several persons raped her, with one of them recording the rape and posting it on Snapchat.

Three of them had had run-ins with the police before, Dnevnik said.