The lawyer of ‘La Manada’ warns that the reduction in sentences will be extended to the rest of the convicted

2023-09-12 18:19:53

Agustín Martínez Becerra, lawyer for the five members of La Manada convicted of a crime of group rape in the Sanfermines of 2016, celebrated this Tuesday that the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra (TSJN) has reduced the prison sentence from 15 to 14 years. prison of the convicted Ángel Boza, by virtue of the application of the law of ‘only yes means yes’.

The lawyer has explained that if the TSJA resolution becomes final, the Court of Navarra will have to “ex officio reduce the sentences of the rest of the convicts” of the Pack, “in application of the most obvious logic.” “It’s a truism,” he argued.

In statements to Europa Press, the lawyer highlighted this statement by the TSJN, after the young people from Seville were sentenced by the Navarra Court to nine years in prison for a crime of sexual abuse. This sentence was modified by the Supreme Court, which sentenced all of them to 15 years in prison for a continuous crime of rape of the victim of the events.

Now, after the Court of Navarra initially rejected the request of the aforementioned lawyer in demand to reduce the prison sentence of the convicted Ángel Boza to 13 years and nine months, the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra has agreed to the defense request , arguing that the sentence should be reduced, since the Supreme Court itself indicated in its ruling that it imposed a sentence of 15 years, “close” or “close” to the legal minimum, minimums that the aforementioned law of ‘only yes is yes’ ‘ was reduced “significantly”, according to the TSJN.

Why has the sentence been reduced?

Thus, as explained by the Chamber, the maximum sentence for the crime attributed remains unchanged, but the minimum sentence drops by one year and three months, going from 14 years, 3 months and 1 day to 13 years. “Consequently, the 15 years of prison imposed remain two years above the possible minimum that, effectively, are within the possible penological arc, but which, in the opinion of the majority of this Chamber, no longer meets the parameter set by the Court Supreme Court in its ruling when it described the sentence imposed as ‘very close to the legal minimum’, or as ‘a sentence higher than the legally provided minimum, although very close to it,’ argues the TSJN.

Thus, after the aforementioned court reduced the prison sentence imposed on Ángel Boza from 15 to 14 years, his defense lawyer has stated that said sentence reduction derives from “strict compliance” with the “only yes means yes” law, finally reformed. thanks to an agreement between the PSOE and the PP, which was opposed by Unidas Podemos, the socialists’ government partner.

Agustín Martínez thanks the Government

Agustín Martínez Becerra has stated, in this way, that the reduction of Ángel Boza’s sentence has been materialized “thanks to the content of the law approved by the Government of Pedro Sánchez, the Minister of Equality Irene Montero and his adlaters”, expressly alluding to Victoria Rosell, Government delegate against Gender Violence; and Ángela Rodríguez, Secretary of State for Equality and Against Gender Violence.

As he has highlighted, it is a “surprise of life” that what was proclaimed as a “law against the Pack” ends in a reduction of sentence “in application of that same law”, which has led him to emphasize that “the courts They are absolutely compelled to reduce sentences, because the law requires it.

“You have to know how to make laws,” he warned, explaining that in light of the aforementioned state regulations, jurists like him already warned that the new regulation was going to mean “a reduction in sentences naturally,” although the notice was answered with “insults from Rosell saying that it was pure sexist propaganda.”

Now, according to the lawyer, it is up to Pedro Sánchez and Irene Montero “to explain how victims are helped by reducing sentences.”

Recalling that the order of the TSJN is still subject to appeal before the Supreme Court, the lawyer has considered that it would be “difficult” for the challenge to succeed, because the court, in this order, “expressly includes the doctrine of the Supreme Court on the law of only yes is yes”.

In the event that the TSJN’s ruling becomes final, as he has said, “it is a truism” that the Court of Navarra, as the initial court of the case, will have to “ex officio reduce the sentences of the rest of the convicts” of the Pack , “in application of the most obvious logic.”