Spanish minister accuses judges of ‘machismo’ in applying sex crimes law
Spain’s magistrate associations and main opposition party have called for the equality minister to resign after she accused judges of “machismo” for reducing prison sentences under a newlaw meant to toughen penalties for sex crimes.
The legislation, popularly known as the “only yes means yes” law, made sexual consent, or a lack of it, a key determinant in assault cases and revised the range of potential minimum and maximum prison terms, inadvertently making it possible for some convicted individuals to have their sentences reduced on appeal.
The law came into force last month and now one of the equality minister Irene Montero’s signature projects is threatening to prove politically damaging.
Revelations this week of the reduced sentences in at least 15 cases outraged Montero and supporters of the law, who argued that Spain’s judges needed more training to overcome ingrained gender biases. She accused some judges of not obeying the law, adding that the UN had said systemic sexism could lead jurists to misinterpret laws.
“The problem is we have judges who are not upholding the law,” she said, arguing that sexist stereotypes blind some judges against seeing gender violence for the crime it is. Judges who reduced sex crime sentences argue they were required to rule in the favour of defendants if the laws under which they were originally convicted had the potential penalties changed.
In one case, a Madrid court recently lowered the sentence of a man convicted of sexually abusing his 13
year-old stepdaughter from eight to six years. In another, a court in southern Granada took two years off a 13-year sentence given to a man who threatened his ex-wife with a knife and raped her.
Opposition parties and magistrate groups were infuriated by Montero’s remarks and blame the leftwing government for passing a poorly drafted law. Two magistrate groups and the conservative Popular party called for Montero to step down.
Ángeles Carmona, a member of Spain’s general council of the judiciary and president of the government agency dealing with gender and domestic violence, said more than half of Spain’s judges were women and that all were required to undergo special training in gender violence.
Carmona said her agency had warned lawmakers of flaws in the writing of the sexual consent legislation and that Montero’s criticism of judges risked undermining women’s trust in the justice system.
“We had already issued a warning in our report that what is happening could take place,” said Carmona. “[But] the justice system is not sexist; it is not part of the patriarchy. The judges are applying the law in impeccable fashion.”
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, appealed for calm and urged the judiciary to reach a consensus on how such case appeals are handled.
The gender violence legislation was drawn up in response to the furore sparked by a gang-rape case during the 2016 San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona.
Initially, the five people charged were found guilty of sexual abuse but not rape, as the victim was deemed not to have objected to the assault. The sentences prompted widespread protests. Spain’s supreme court later overruled lower courts and sentenced the five to 15 years in prison for rape. A lawyer for one of the five now says he plans to seek a reduction in his client’s sentence.
Montero is a member of the farleft Unidas Podemos (United We Can), which is in a coalition government with Sánchez’s Socialists. The coalition is struggling to remain united until Spain’s general election next year.
Some fellow government officials have recommended revising the sexual consent law, an idea Montero opposes.