Spanish PM apologises over sexual consent law reform loophole
Hindustan TimesSpain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apologised in an interview published on Sunday to victims of sexual abuse over a sexual violence law that included a loophole enabling at least 978 imprisoned offenders to get their sentences reduced or ended early. The "Only Yes Is Yes" law, which arose partly as a result of public outrage over the so-called Wolf Pack case, centred on consent and was meant to resolve cases where defendants were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse because victims had not resisted out of fear. But because the new law carries a lower minimum sentence - the result of merging the crimes of sexual abuse and aggression - it has enabled some perpetrators convicted before it took effect to successfully seek reduced sentences or early release. Combating gender violence had been high on the coalition's agenda since the "Wolf Pack" case, in which five men referring to themselves by that name were jailed for the lesser crime of sexual abuse in 2018 after gang-raping a young woman at the Pamplona bull-running festival in 2016.
History of this topic
Spanish PM apologises over sexual consent law reform loophole
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