THE young woman who was gang-raped by the self-styled 'Manada' or 'Herd' at Pamplona's Sanfermínes festival in 2016 has announced she will appeal against the lenient sentence awarded to the five men who lured her away and filmed themselves taking advantage of her.
All over the world, outraged support for the anonymous victim – who was just 18 at the time – has filled newspaper headlines, news programmes on TV and comments on the street after the organised street gang from Sevilla was sentenced to nine years for 'sexual abuse' but acquitted of rape, which carries jail terms of over 20 years.
The mostly-male judges at the court in Navarra said there was no evidence of 'violence or intimidation' – as the teen was very drunk and unable to consent – which they claim were necessary for a rape charge to apply.
They said 'strength in numbers' or being 'overpowered' five to one did not count as 'intimidation' and that the act of forcing themselves on her sexually without her consent did not amount to 'violence'.
One magistrate, Ricardo González, even voted for all charges to be dropped against 'The Herd' except for that of stealing her mobile phone, which applied to one gang member, a trained Guardia Civil officer, who took it from her pocket whilst one of his companions was in the act of rape.
They took turns to violate her and filmed each other, and prosecutors and police who viewed the footage described it as 'harrowing' and 'emotionally distressing'.
The association of women judges, THEMIS, said the verdict sent out a message of 'hopelessness' to women across the country, and defence minister María Dolores de Cospedal has said it is time to 'review' the criteria for sexual offences in Spain's Penal Code.
Based upon the words of the victim's lawyer, Carlos Bacaicoa, it appears the woman, now 20, did not want to appeal as she felt she had already been through enough trauma.
“We've convinced her to fight it,” Bacaicoa revealed.
“Given what's happening in the streets [daily protests in almost every provincial capital have been staged], it would seem very strange if we did not.”
Even the prosecution intends to appeal.
“I don't think changing the Penal Code is necessary – the sentence merely responds to the judges' interpretation,” Bacaicoa admits.
Private and people's prosecutions include Pamplona city hall and Navarra regional government, who have also decided to appeal.
A petition on Change.org has netted well over a million signatures, and even Hollywood has come out in support of the undisclosed young victim – Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain, 41, reacted furiously on Twitter, and model and actress Rose McGowan, 44, shared the headline about the sentence and – albeit erroneously – added the hashtag in solidarity with the Pamplona woman.
Two hashtags, #YoSíTeCreo ('I do believe you') and #HermanaYoSíTeCreo ('Sister, I do believe you') have been quoted all over social media.
Elsewhere, Spanish actresses have joined the movement with slogans such as “No es abuso, es violación,” ('It's not abuse, it's rape') and “No es no,” ('No means no'), including Spain's most famous silver-screen import and veteran 'Almodóvar Girl', Penélope Cruz, and Spanglish star Paz Vega, plus Blanca Portillo, Leticia Dolera, Natalia de Molina, Aura Garrido, María Valverde, Maribel Verdú, Paula Echevarría, Anabel Alonso, Úrsula Corberó and Aitana Sánchez Gijón.
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