The top human rights court in the Americas has found Peru responsible for the arbitrary detention and rape of a transgender woman in a landmark case marking the first time it has ruled on a complaint of torture against the LGBT+ community.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a ruling made public on Monday said Azul Rojas Marin had been the victim of an act of torture in 2008, and it ordered the government to pay her unspecified damages.

According to her lawyers, Marin was detained by police in 2008 in northern Peru and while in custody was stripped, hit and raped with a truncheon by police.

Marin had filed a criminal complaint against police but the case was dismissed by state prosecutors, and human rights groups took it to the Inter-American Court on her behalf. As the judicial arm of the 35-member Organization of American States, the court hears cases of human rights abuses in Latin America and can order governments to investigate crimes and compensate victims.

The ruling, issued on March 12 but made public on Monday, ordered Peru to provide psychological treatment to the victim, adopt new protocols for investigating attacks against LGBT+ people and track statistics of violence against the community. Read more via Reuters