Spain PM apologizes to victims over rape law loophole
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apologizes to the victims of sexual abuse who had their offenders freed due to a loophole in a law enacted by his government.
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference held at the Spanish embassy in Beijing, March 31, 2023. (AP)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apologized on Sunday to the victims of sexual assault for a loophole in the law enacted as a means of combatting the phenomenon and curbing sexual violence; the loophole in question is aimed at fighting sexual violence that has allowed some convicts to reduce their sentences.
The law, dubbed "Only yes means yes", came into effect in October, reforming the criminal code to label all non-consensual sex as rape. However, since the legislation came into law, at least 104 convicts have been released, with an additional 98 having their sentences reduced, the latest figures to come out of Madrid showed.
Moreover, in a Sunday interview in the El Correo newspaper, the premier apologized, saying "I ask victims for forgiveness for these undesired effects."
"I don't think any deputy, including those parliamentary groups who voted against the 'only yes means yes' law is okay to lower sentences of sexual aggressors," the Spanish daily quoted him as saying. "That's why I am asking for forgiveness."
The law saw the lesser charge of sexual abuse dropped and all violations were grouped as sexual assault, which carried harsher penalties.
Simultaneously, the law reduced the minimum and maximum punishment for certain types of sexual crimes, prompting hundreds to apply to have their sentences revised.
The Spanish constitution allows for sentences to be modified retroactively if a change in the penal code pours into the convict's interest.
Consequentially, many convicts have had their sentences reduced, drawing the ire of thousands of citizens all over the country.
Modifications to tackle loophole
The government has tried to tend to the issue by introducing modifications designed to tackle the loophole, and the parliament is currently looking at the means of fixing them.
"We will put a solution on the table to resolve these problems," Sanchez said.
Last year saw Spaniards demonstrating all over the country in protest against the law, with Spanish far-right party Vox rallying tens of thousands of its supporters nationwide to protest against Sanchez's left-wing government.
The police at the time said some 25,000 people gathered in central Madrid's Colon Square, where protesters carried flags and demanded that Sanchez step down. The far-right party's leader, Santiago Abascal, denounced the government for being one "of treason, insecurity, and ruin," after Madrid recently made amendments to the national criminal code and approved a new law against sexual violence.
Vox, and the rest of the right alongside it, believe that the amended criminal code, which should be ratified by the end of the year, would encourage separatists in Catalonia to make further bids to secede from Spain.
Sexual assaults doubled since Sanchez took the premiership in 2018, Abascal claimed, denouncing the aforementioned law and alleging that it would allow rapists and pedophiles to have shorter prison sentences and thus leave prison earlier.
