PARIS — Two French policemen were each sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday after being convicted of the rape of a Canadian tourist at the Paris police headquarters.

The court was "convinced by the victim's steadfast statements" and "by scientific and technical" evidence, its president Stephane Duchemin said.

The two officers were accused of raping a Canadian tourist at the historic former headquarters of the Paris police. The men, who can be identified under French law only as Nicolas R. and Antoine Q., had denied raping 39-year-old Emily Spanton, saying she willingly engaged in sex.

Spanton met the officers on the night of April 22, 2014, at a bar near 36 Quai des Orfevres, the fabled police headquarters that features in Georges Simenon's Maigret detective novels.

She acknowledged flirting with the officers in the bar, in poor French, and agreed to visit their offices at "the 36", where both men were members of the elite BRI anti-gang unit.

Spanton's is among a string of recent cases that have highlighted questions over the nature of sexual consent in the wake of the "Me Too" movement against assault and harassment of women.

The two-and-a-half-week trial, which heard sharply varying accounts, has had to consider whether Spanton was capable of agreeing to sex given she was heavily intoxicated.

It also had to tackle the thorny question of whether people's memories can be considered reliable in such a case when recalling details of events that took place years earlier.

Medical tests showed that Spanton, who was visiting from Toronto, had taken anti-depressant medication, opiates and cannabis. She was also visibly very drunk, according to witnesses who testified in court.

The officers, aged 40 and 49, had faced up to 20 years' imprisonment for gang rape.

Prosecutor Philippe Courroye on Wednesday asked for seven-year prison terms for the officers, who kept their jobs while awaiting trial. Spanton was "easy prey", Courroye said.

That night, he charged, the officers "were not policemen, but usurpers unworthy of their badges, acting in the same way as those they pursue".

Spanton said she was raped by up to three men. DNA from three men was found on her underwear, though only that of the two accused could be identified.

She told the court — which is right next door to the former police headquarters — that she had been excited to see the "36" and thought "there would be plenty of lights and people".

But in the middle of the night, their fifth-floor offices were empty. "I just gave up; just wanted it to be over," she said.

While denying rape, one of the officers said he and Spanton had kissed, while the other said she had willingly performed oral sex on him.

Spanton told police officers on duty as she left the building that she had been raped, but said she was treated like a drunk and told to "go home". A few hours later she filed a complaint at another police station.

The trial highlighted flaws in the investigation just after the incident, including that the alleged crime scene was not cordoned off.

The officers were also allowed to return home without submitting to a breathalyzer test.

Both defendants sobbed as they gave their final statements Thursday. "I realize that as a police officer I should never have brought Emily Spanton to the BRI offices," Nicolas R. said, taking the stand just a few meters away from his accuser.

"All my life I've had good relationships with women. I never, never, never assaulted, attacked or raped Emily Spanton."

Antoine Q. said it had been a "five-year nightmare" for him and his family. "Maybe I was unfaithful, but I have never raped a woman. I never raped this woman."

Antoine Q.'s lawyer Anne-Laure Compoint had argued it was not possible to prove beyond doubt that there had been a lack of consent.

The "36" is still used as police offices, but the headquarters have been moved to a new building in northwest Paris. — AFP