A court in Spain has cleared two men of raping a woman, despite her begging them to stop.
The move has prompted outrage across the country just eight months after thousands took to the streets to protest another Spanish court’s decision to clear five men, who dubbed themselves ‘the wolf pack’, of gang-raping a teenager.
In the latest controversial case, the court in Lleida, in the north east of the country, ruled that a man and his nephew sexually abused rather than raped the woman – because they were deemed not to have used intimidation or violence.
A woman is seen with a sign with the text ‘we want to be free’ in protests in Spain earlier this year over the sentence given to the members of a group known as the ‘wolf pack’
They were jailed for four-and-a-half years rather than the maximum rape sentence of 15 years, infuriating Spaniards once again.
The victim met the two men in a bar before accompanying them to a nightclub. Afterwards the men, whose ages are unclear, forced her into intercourse and a sex act in a back alley.
The court ruled that the men ‘took advantage of her vulnerable nature, which, added to her consumption of alcohol and antidepressants, may have weakened her ability to defend herself, thus making the use of violent or intimidatory acts unnecessary’.
Despite this damning appraisal of their behaviour and admission that her weakened state left her vulnerable, the court prompted the ire of many when it stated that without the use of violence or intimidation from the men, they couldn’t be tried for rape.
The controversial verdict comes just two days shy of the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – wherein activists plan to stage 200 demonstrations.
Thousands of people protested across Spain, in April, after a court acquitted five men of rape charges for an attack on a young woman during a bull-running festival
People tweeted their outrage at the case in Lleida, just months after Pamplona case rattled Spain
People have reacted with utter disbelief at the verdict online with a particular ire directed at the section of the law focusing on intimidation and violence.
Jose Antonio tweeted: ‘If the justice does not protect the victims with this type of interpretation of the laws, we will not advance one iota in the fight against gender violence.
‘This type of crime can not remain unpunished, it is a psychological condemnation for a victim for his (sic) entire life.’
Sabel Carreira added: ‘We want a justice that protects women, not this farce!’
‘Although she cried and told them no, (…) was not able to express her refusal physically.’ If you do not defend yourself, it’s not rape. If you do, they kill you,’ said Mercedes Domenech, quoting the court’s findings.
The reaction online echoes the sentiment of a much more physical outrage in late April that saw thousands of protesters take the streets after a Pamplona court ruled in a similar fashion.
The men, who had recorded video of the attack on their mobile phones and laughed about the incident afterwards on a Whatsapp group, were charged with the lesser crime of sexual abuse instead of rape.
Protestors face off against police in Spain after the verdict that quashed rape charges against the wolf pack in April
Jose Angel Prenda, Jesus Cabezuelo, Jesus Escudero, Angel Boza and Antonio Manuel Guerrero have been dubbed the ‘wolf pack’ after the name of their WhatsApp group
The woman involved in the April court ase alleged she had been raped during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona (file picture)
This is despite the five men, including a former policeman and a former soldier surrounding the woman in a small alcove, removing her clothes and having unprotected sex while recording the encounter.
Thousands gathered in cities across Spain from Seville to Barcelona and outside the Justice Ministry in Madrid bearing notices reading ‘I believe you sister’ and chanting ‘It’s not abuse, it’s rape’.
The five – who belonged to a WhatsApp group called La manada (wolf pack) – were jailed for nine years for sexual assault, but many saw the sentence as too lenient.
The BBC reported that after the ‘wolf pack’ ruling, Spain’s government asked a group of legal experts to revise the sexual assault laws, with a view to unifying the different offences under the umbrella term rape.