Some 14 sales have transpired this week and have occurred in Andalusia, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia and the Basque Country
MADRID, Jan. 17 (.) –
The number of those convicted of sexual crimes who have benefited from the new penalty framework included in the ‘only yes is yes’ law amounts to at least 195, between lower sentence reviews and subsequent sentences in application of the rule . Since October 7, when the Penal Code reform came into force, the release of 18 people has been ordered. The last 14 penalty reductions have transpired this Monday and Tuesday and have occurred in Andalusia, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia and the Basque Country.
Of the 14 cases registered so far this week, 7 correspond to the Basque Country, where discounts have been applied under the Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom. These modifications to prison sentences have been signed by the Vizcaya Provincial Court, which, among other cases, has reduced the prison sentence of a man from 13 years and 6 months to 11 years and 1 day for continued sexual assault on a person especially vulnerable.
To the list are added 3 sales recorded in Andalusia; two of them communicated yesterday Monday and one this Tuesday. In one of the cases, the Andalusian Supreme Court has reduced from 10 to 9 years and 1 day the prison sentence imposed on a man convicted of sexually abusing his underage great-niece in a town in Cádiz. In another case, which took place in Córdoba, the sentence was modified by the same amount for a man who sexually abused his partner’s underage daughter.
The third Andalusian case corresponds to a resolution of the TSJ by which the sentence of 3 years and 6 months in prison of a retired civil guard who had been convicted in Melilla for a crime of sexual abuse of a minor under 17 years has been annulled. The magistrates have explained that the conduct for which they sentenced the man as the perpetrator of a crime of sexual abuse “has been declassified” and that the type of deception that was proven does not appear in the new Penal Code either.
On the sidelines, there are two other sales in Castilla y León, both in Zamora. In one case, the Provincial Court lowers the prison sentence of a man who sexually assaulted a disabled person in the surroundings of a restaurant in the capital; in the other, it modifies the prison sentence from 12 to 10 years for a man convicted of a continuous crime of sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age.
Likewise, there has been a reduction in Extremadura, where the Provincial Court of Cáceres has reduced the prison sentence imposed on a man from 12 to 9 years for one of the two crimes of sexual assault for which he was convicted.
In addition, there is the case of the Provincial Court of A Coruña, in Galicia, in which the prison sentence of a man who sexually assaulted his daughter continuously between 2016 and 2017, when the minor was between 13 and 14, was reduced. years.
With the 14 new reductions recorded so far this week, the number of those convicted of sexual crimes who have benefited from the ‘only yes is yes’ law has gone from 181 to 195 since last Friday.
CASES BY AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES
With the 14 new cases, sentence reviews and sentence reductions are confirmed in 17 autonomous communities.
According to the data collected so far by Europa Press, there are 35 sales in the Basque Country, 21 in Galicia, 20 in Madrid, 20 in Andalusia, 18 in the Balearic Islands, 16 in Castilla y León, 15 in the Valencian Community, 9 in the Canary Islands, 9 in Asturias, 8 in Extremadura, 7 in Cantabria, 6 in the Supreme Court, 4 in Catalonia, 2 in Murcia, 2 in La Rioja, 1 in Castilla-La Mancha, 1 in Navarra and 1 in Aragon.
Of these 195 cases, 18 have led to the release of convicts: 6 from Madrid, 2 from the Balearic Islands, 2 from Galicia, 2 in the Valencian Community, 2 from Cantabria, 1 in Extremadura, 1 in Castilla y León, 1 in Asturias and 1 in the Basque Country –by order of the Supreme Court–.
Among the most substantial reductions registered, there are two in Cantabria in which the prison sentence was reduced by 7 years. Thus, those convicted went from sentences of 18 years to 11 years for a sexual assault on a young woman in a Santander hostel.
“MOST FAVORABLE TO THE INMENDO”
In the 195 cases registered so far, the magistrates explain that these reviews and sentence reductions are made because the Penal Code itself, in its article 2.2, establishes that the “most favorable” law must always be applied to the prisoner.
The law of ‘only yes is yes’ has caused the crime of sexual assault to absorb that of sexual abuse, which means that a crime that until now included a more serious conduct incorporates a less serious one, so that the criminal fork also It has been expanded to cover the full range of behaviors now punishable as sexual assault.
Thus, the legal sources consulted by Europa Press explain that the number of cases in which the discounts are applied will continue to grow due to the pending reviews in all the autonomous communities.
THE CRITERION OF THE SUPREME
The Supreme Court assured in its ruling on the ‘Arandina case’ that the application of the Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom is “mandatory” because it is “more favorable” to the prisoner.
The High Court had to make use of the penal modification when reviewing the sentence of the ‘Arandina case’ and sentenced two former players of that football club to 9 years in prison -and not 10, as requested by the Prosecutor. the law of ‘only yes is yes’.
The magistrates raised the sentences – from 4 and 3 years that the TSJ of Castilla y León had set – after eliminating the mitigation that had been appreciated due to the closeness of age and maturity between the convicted and the victim.
The Supreme Court has already reduced 6 prison sentences related to crimes of sexual assault since the reform of the Penal Code entered into force. One of them has led to a release in the Basque Country.
The sources consulted explain that, although the ‘Arandina case’ was a first manifestation, it does not serve to establish doctrine because it is a matter that was already pending an appeal and had legal elements to consider beyond the new law.
The same sources indicate that for the Supreme Court to clarify the rules of application of the ‘only yes is yes’ to final judgments, it will have to rule in the same sense in similar cases. And until they achieve it, it could take months, they point out.
