The law on sexual freedom was one of the great promises of this leftist legislature in Spain. Better known by the formula “Only a yes is a yes” to qualify sexual relations and define rape, it was adopted, Thursday, May 26 in the evening, by the majority in the Congress of Deputies. There is only one round trip to the Senate left to validate its definitive entry into force.
Protect victims
It will have taken more than two years of work and negotiations, since the presentation of the preliminary draft to the Council of Ministers in March 2020, to lead to this vote. This sensitive law, demanded by feminist movements in Spain, will be a milestone. It will be important in future trials. From now on, any sexual act not consented to in a clear and free manner will be considered as “a rape” and not as “sexual abuse”, a term that will be deleted. The difference may seem slight, but it remains essential during a trial.
Until now, justice demanded from the victim to demonstrate how she had refused the sexual relationship and resisted it. An often difficult situation, the victim finding himself in a state of shock and struck with involuntary paralysis. Thanks to this new law, which will involve a modification of the penal code, an affirmative consent of the victim will be necessary.
Cira García Dominguez, judge in a special court of gender violence in Castile-La Mancha and member of the Association of Women Judges of Spain, decrypts: “This will avoid asking questions that further victimize the victim. We will no longer ask her how she resisted, what she did before, how she was dressed… But we will want to know if she consented and how. These differences are fundamental. »
The turning point of “the pack”
This radical paradigm shift stems in large part from the judgment in a resounding trial in 2018 that outraged the country. In July 2016, an 18-year-old young woman found herself trapped in a stairwell in Pamplona (Navarre), during the San Fermin celebrations, facing five men presenting themselves as ” the pack “.
The magistrates had a video shot by the defendants themselves at the time of the events. In their sentence, these judges do not deny the sexual assault. According to them, the victim ended up “paralyzed” et “reacted by submitting” to chain blowjobs and forced sex without a condom. However, the magistrates did not retain the accusation of rape, for which the Spanish penal code provides that there must be « intimidation » or « violence ». The judges of a Pamplona court then sentenced each of the five men, aged 27 to 29 at the time, to nine years in prison for “sexual abuse” and no « viol ». On appeal, they will finally be sentenced to fifteen years in prison. A sentence nevertheless lower than the requisitions of the prosecution, which initially asked for more than twenty-two years in prison.
→ REREAD. Anger in Spain against justice in a rape case
This judgment sparked unprecedented indignation in Spain. Demonstrations – of women, but also of men – had multiplied in several cities of the country, where we heard anger and incomprehension. With this slogan: “This is not sexual abuse but rape! »
Today, Maria Angeles Jaime, the president of Thémis, an association of women lawyers, is delighted with this legislative turning point: “This new law will make it possible not to permanently question a woman victim. »