Singapore's gender & equality group AWARE addresses acquittal of Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s gender and equality group AWARE has been posting online about a full range of topics, but many commenters keep asking questions related to the acquittal of former Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov.

“What about Lev?” many netizens, especially males, kept commenting, as if asking for a statement on the matter from AWARE, which stands for the Association of Women for Action and Research.

On Thursday (Nov 12), the organisation addressed the issue, which Mr Panfilov then referred to in a post of its own the following day.

AWARE dealt with accusations that the woman in the case had lied about her encounter with the former actor, writing, “An acquittal does not mean it was a false allegation.”

In its post, titled “Stop screaming she lied,” AWARE asked Singaporean to examine what the courts have actually said in the case.

The group pointed out that in sexual crimes, there is usually no or little evidence, and in Singapore, courts must decide whether the complainant's testimony is "unusually convincing”  enough to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

While in the 2025 trial, a judge found the woman’s evidence to be "unusually convincing,” in this year’s trial, judges say that there were several inconsistencies in the prosecution's case, leading to reasonable doubt.

“Material inconsistencies led to acquittal,” AWARE wrote, differentiating this from the woman actually having lied or made her story up.

Acquittal means that the prosecution had been unable to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and not that the woman had testified falsely.

AWARE also posted excerpts from court transcripts about how the inconsistency was assessed, touching on whether or not the woman had screamed, the state she was in when the doctors interviewed her, and her memory of particular details of the sexual encounter itself.

“As an organisation that works with sexual assault survivors, we understand that trauma impacts memory. We understand the courts must have a tool to assess proof beyond reasonable doubt when there is little or no material evidence, which is common in sexual assault cases. We wonder then, when gaps in recollection is expected, if the ‘unusually convincing’ standard is good enough,” the group wrote in the post’s caption.

Meanwhile, Mr Panfilov countered the post by writing a lengthy one of his own, tagging the group and arguing that AWARE has “responsibility to the facts, to the people whose lives it discusses, and to the society it helps shape.” /TISG

Read also: After overturning of rape conviction, Wah! Banana actor Lev Panfilov thanks mum, girlfriend for standing by him