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Spanish PM apologizes over sexual consent law reform loophole

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In an interview published on Sunday (16 April), Spain's Premier Pedro Sanchez (pictured) apologized to victims of sexual assault over a law against sexual violence that contained a loophole that allowed at least 978 prisoners to have their sentences reduced or terminated early.

The "Only Yes Is Yes", which was a law that was enacted partly in response to the public outrage caused by the so-called Wolf Pack Case centered on consent. Its purpose was to settle cases where defendants had been convicted of a lesser crime, sexual abuse, because the victims did not resist out of fear.

Some perpetrators who were convicted prior to the law's implementation have been able to obtain reduced sentences or an early release.

The General Council of the Judiciary, the highest body of judges, announced last week that 104 prisoners had been released earlier than scheduled as of March 31 after the October law passed.

"Some of these reviews or releases are not final. They can still be appealed." In any case, we must resolve the unwanted effect," Sanchez told El Correo in an interview.

"I apologise if we must to the victims."

The issue has divided the coalition of three years, with the Socialists eager to reform the laws but their ruling partner Unidas Podemos refusing their suggestions.

The coalition has been focusing on combating gender violence since the "Wolf Pack Case" in which five men who called themselves that were sentenced to prison in 2018 for the lesser offense of sexual abuse after gang-raping an 18-year-old woman in 2016 at the Pamplona Bull-Racing Festival.

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