A previous sentence is reduced to 43 while the reform of the Penal Code is directly applied to 4
MADRID, 2 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The number of convicts who have benefited from the new penalty framework included in the ‘only yes is yes’ law amounts to at least 47, between lower sentence reviews (43) and subsequent sentences in application of the rule (4). A total of 12 people have been released.
The latest reduction has been issued by the Court of Badajoz, which has reduced the prison sentence of a person convicted of sexual abuse from 11 years to 10 years and 6 months in application of the Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom.
This is in addition to two others announced this week in Vizcaya, where the Provincial Court has lowered two sentences. In one case it has reduced a sentence from 4 years and 6 months to 3 years; and in another it has reduced a prison sentence from 6 to 4 years for two crimes of sexual assault.
Likewise, a case has been made known in Pontevedra. The Court has agreed to release a man convicted of sexual assault who had served 11 of the 12 years in prison that was imposed on him, because — in application of the new law — he should have been sentenced to 7 years.
In addition, the Court of Alicante has reduced the sentence imposed on a person convicted of a crime of sexual assault by two years and has agreed to his immediate release.
These reductions are added to two others that the Supreme Court has issued this week, which has sentenced two former players in the ‘Arandina case’ to 9 years in prison -and not 10- by applying the law of ‘only if it is Yes’. The magistrates have raised their 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.
In the ruling, the magistrates have stressed that the Law on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom “may be applied to the benefit of the prisoner when a lower penalty is now set in those cases in which it proceeds.” They have qualified, however, that it must be done “analyzing case by case, and not globally.”
This contrasts with the criterion set by the State Attorney General’s Office that sentences will not be modified when they can be imposed with the new criminal framework, a criterion that would avoid an “automatic” reduction of sentences.
The new law 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, for which the criminal fork has also been expanded to cover everything the range of behaviors now punishable as sexual assault.
Among the sentence reviews and sentence reductions, the sources consulted by Europa Press have confirmed 20 in Madrid, 5 in Galicia, 3 in Cantabria, 2 in the Balearic Islands, 2 in Castilla y León, 2 in the Supreme Court, 2 in the Basque Country , 1 in Andalusia, 1 in Asturias, 1 in Castilla-La Mancha, 1 in Murcia, 1 in the Canary Islands, 1 in the Valencian Community and 1 in Extremadura. 12 of these 43 cases have led to the release of convicts: 6 from Madrid, 2 from the Balearic Islands, 2 from Galicia, 1 from Cantabria and 1 in the Valencian Community.
Regarding the new sentences handed down after the reform, sources consulted by Europa Press have specified that there are already 4 cases: 2 cases in León, 1 in Barcelona and 1 in Girona.
On the sidelines, two cases of reductions in the TSJ of Galicia have also been made known. One in which the prison sentence for a man who was convicted of sexually abusing a minor under 16 years of age has been reduced from 11 years to 10 years and 6 months. And another in which the sentence imposed on a man for sexually assaulting a minor whom he had met through Instagram was reduced from 8 to 6 years.
These cases are added to two others in Galicia. One of the Court of Ourense, where they have reviewed a conviction for an attempted sexual assault with carnal access and have reduced the sentence from 3 years and 6 months in prison to 2 years and 6 months and have agreed to his release. And another from the TSJ, where the prison sentence of a man who raped a woman he met through Tinder in Cambre has been reduced by two years.
This week there are also two cases from the Court of Cantabria in which the prison sentences imposed in 2020 on two convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Santander hostel were reduced by 7 years. Thus, they went from a sentence of 18 years in prison to 11 years. In addition, there is a reduction from 5 to 2 years in prison in the sentence of a man who sexually assaulted a woman.
Until now, the largest number of reviews is recorded in the courts of Madrid, where 20 sentences of abuse and/or sexual assault have been lowered. In addition, 7 releases have been issued, although one has not materialized because the convicted person has other pending sentences. In the resolutions to which Europa Press has had access, prison sentences are reduced by up to 5 years.
Among the cases of sentence reduction that Europa Press has been able to confirm, there is also evidence that the Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has reduced the sentence of the perpetrator of a crime of sexual abuse without precedent from 10 to 9 years.
The TSJ of Murcia has ratified a conviction of a defendant for an attempted sexual assault on a woman in 2020. However, it has modified the sentence imposed because it is “more favorable” for the prisoner to apply the ‘law of only yes is yes’ . Thus, it has reduced the sentence from 4 years and 6 months to 3 years and 1 day in prison.
On the sidelines, the Balearic Court has ordered the immediate release of two prisoners who were serving a sentence of three years in prison for two sexual assaults without penetration after reviewing the two cases.
Legal sources have pointed out that in Castilla y León, in the Segovia Court, four enforceable sentences on sexual crimes have been reviewed and one of them has been modified. In this case, the sentence has been reduced from 12 years to 9 years in prison.
For its part, the Court of Valladolid has reduced the sentence from 12 to 10 years in prison for the person responsible for a sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age.
In addition, it is clear that the TSJ of Andalusia has dismissed an appeal and although it has confirmed the sentence — “by retroactive application of the current norm” — it has reduced the prison sentence. Thus, it has gone from 13 years, 6 months and 1 day to 11 years and 1 day.
Added to the list is the case of the Castilla-La Mancha Supreme Court, which has reduced the sentence of a man who sexually assaulted a woman in Ciudad Real from 9 to 8 years.
On the sidelines, the TSJ of Asturias has reduced the sentence of a man accused of sexual abuse of a child under 16 from 10 to 9 years in prison. It should be remembered that the revisions made are subject to appeal and could reach the Supreme Court.
The sources consulted have specified that the number of cases in which the reductions are applied could increase in the coming days due to the pending revisions. In Madrid alone, there are 447 cases of sexual abuse and/or assault that have been firmly convicted, with a convicted person in prison, subject to review. Of these cases, and ex officio, the magistrates have already begun the review of 121. At the request of a party, the review of 55 is being processed.
So far, 18 of the 52 provincial courts have ruled on the law. 11 have said that they are in favor of applying the most favorable revisions to the prisoner; 4 have not set a clear position, pointing to the need to review case by case; and another 3 have reported that it will not reduce the sentences when the sentences that were imposed can also be imposed under the new law.
