Legal specialist calls for criminal code review after Manada verdict

After a controversial verdict by a court in Pamplona to dismiss rape allegations against a group of five men known as ‘La manada’ (The pack), people in cities all over Spain protested on the streets. The reason for their indignation was that the judges found the men guilty of sexual abuse instead of rape, arguing that they did not use violence in the sexual assault. In Barcelona alone, thousands turned out to protest the court’s decision.

With the case being widely reported in the international press, and the prosecutor’s office in Navarra vowing to appeal the decision, Catalan News spoke to Carla Vall about the case. A specialist in criminal law, violence and human rights, Carla is also a member of Dones Juristes - Catalan for Women Lawyers - and she has been a very vocal critic of the final decision in La Manada case.

The main reason why the court’s verdict caused such outrage was that the five men were found guilty of sexual abuse instead of rape, despite recording a video of the assault and sharing it. Yet, as Vall points out, “the difference with the criminal code in Spain is that rape has to include force or intimidation.” 

In the video, the 18-year-old woman appears immobile and with her eyes closed. The defense team claimed that her silence indicates consent. They also claimed that she could have fought back The prosecution stressed that the woman had been immobilized by force and terror.

Vall argues for a review of Spain’s criminal code, so that “courts know that rape is not only committed with violence but also exists in many other situations.” For the lawyer, this change is vital, as the Manada verdict sends the wrong message and “rapists might think that there’s no chance of them being convicted for rape and only sexual abuse,” she says.

In calling for a reform of the law, Vall points to the examples of Italy and Andorra, “which do not see any difference between sexual abuse and rape,” she says, adding: “I think it’s impossible to have any non-consensual sexual intercourse without force or intimidation.”

On Friday, the Spanish government said it did not agree with the sentence and will look into how the law frames crimes of sexual abuse. A spokesman also said that the government “always sides with the victims” and that it will “continue fighting against this scourge of violence against women.”