Five men raped a 14-year-old girl, but for justice, it was not a "rape" because "there was no violence"

The controversy surrounding the conviction of "La manada" a few months ago was repeated in Spain. Associations and lawyers claimed this Friday legislative changes after five men who raped a 14 year old girl were found guilty of sexual abuse and non-sexual assault for having considered the judge that the victim was unconscious.

According to the judges of the public of Barcelona, ​​the victim was unconscious so that the accused "can perform the sexual acts without resorting to violence or intimidation", the conditions deemed necessary in accordance with Penal Code Spanish for rape.

Penalties between 10 and 12 years for abusers

The five men were sentenced to sentences ranging from 10 to 12 years in prison. A conviction for sexual assault, the equivalent of rape, would have resulted in sentences of between 15 and 20 years. The convicted person can not approach or communicate with the victim for 20 years and must compensate with 12,000 eurosfive times less than the prosecutor asked.

Two other defendants were acquitted for these events that took place in October 2015. at a party in an abandoned factory from the city of Manresa, located north of Barcelona.

As proved by the lawsuit, the young woman was unconscious after drinking alcohol and smoked marijuana. The damned took her to an isolated place where They mistreated her for 15 minutes.

One of the men who was acquitted he masturbated while watching others rape to the girl.

In testifying, the young woman assured that two of her attackers they threatened her with a gun to force her to do a blowjob, although the judges felt that the facts could not be proven. As indicated by Chain to bethe magistrates they gave proven abuses through WhatsApp messages what the damned have written and in which the leader of the group admitted that the minor "was complaining".

According to the sentence, the court admitted that the crime was "extremely intense and especially denigrating"but stresses that the aggressors" could perform the acts without resorting to violence or intimidation to overcome an opposition that did not exist ".

Claiming changes in the Spanish Penal Code

"The problem is not the sentence but the penal code"said Montserrat Comas, spokesperson for the Judges for Democracy Association, in statements on Radio Cadena Ser.

According to Comas, the legislation should be amended so that the violation is defined as such. any type of sexual relationship without consentas in many European countries.

This is also established by Convention of Istanbul, an international treaty for the prevention and the fight against violence against women that Spain ratified in 2014said the magistrate.

"The facts are particularly execrable because it's a child under 14," added Comas.

The case was linked to another similar case, the rape of a woman in July 2016 in Pamplona during the famous San Fermín festivities by a group that called itself "La Manada". In this case, five young men were sentenced last year to nine years in prison for sexual assault, a sentence that sparked a wave of demonstrations in all the countries.

In June, however, the Supreme Court considered the case and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for each and every one. he recalculated the crime of sexual assault.

After the first verdict in the Pamplona case, the socialist government announced plans to reform the penal code, but have not yet been finalized.

Marisa Soleto, director of the NGO Fundación Mujeres, wrote on Twitter that the conviction in the case of Manresa is "further evidence of the need to change crime rates for sexual freedom".

"It is clear that a good deal of the judges of this country they still do not apply the gender perspective by assessing what is happening in a violation. It is urgent not only to reform the Penal Code, but especially and above all a "feminist" revolution in the courts, "said another user of Twitter.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau also criticized "another sentence of patriarchal justice". "A 14-year-old unconscious girl was raped in a group I'm not a judge and I do not know how many years they deserve, but what I do know is that This is not an abuse, it is a rape!"he wrote.