CNN: Five men acquitted of rape because unconscious teenage victim didn't fight back

[erpowers]

A court in Barcelona cleared five men of sexual assault charges on Thursday after saying the crime did not fit the legal definition of rape because the unconscious teenage victim didn't fight back.

Under Spanish law, a sexual attack can only be classified as an assault or rape if the perpetrator uses violence or intimidation. Because the 14-year-old victim was unconscious, the five were convicted of a lesser charge of sexual abuse.

The Barcelona court sentenced the five men to 10 to 12 years in prison, despite the prosecution arguing they should be charged with assault.

snip

The court said the victim was "in a state of unconsciousness ... without being able to determine and accept or oppose the sexual relations maintained with defendants, who could perform sexual acts without using any type of violence or intimidation."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/01/europe/barcelona-rape-sexual-assault-intl/index.html

[catbyte]

1. Wow. Another reason to avoid Spain.

I've never wanted to go to Spain because of the bullfighting and the horrific treatment of Galgos dogs, now I see women don't mean much either. It's a shame because I hear it's a beautiful country.

[Thyla]

2. I live in Spain....

And don't blame you the slightest catbyte.
It's a baffling place at the best of times.

This is like the fourth or fifth time in a couple of years I have seen these type of headlines regarding packs of young men not being charged with rape and it's disgusting.

[spooky3]

3. Non-lawyer here, but from the article it appears

to me that the wording of the law is the problem and it needs to change. Maybe with the protests there, legislators will act.

[Thyla]

5. Well you'd think they might at least consider

amending it but they are a stubborn lot.

The case in the link is 3 years old and only just this year the courts finally made a better decision.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/06/justice-prevails-in-spain-wolf-pack-rape-case/

But why should a victim have to go through years of hell in the mean time.

Until they do change the laws these type of headlines will continue, not sure what they are waiting for?

[spooky3]

8. But isn't the case in your link (from June) the same one as in the OP (from Nov.)?

If so, then the situation is more bleak.

One would think/hope the public outcry and indirect social pressure from other European countries with different laws would have some effect...

[Thyla]

10. It's a different case from 2016

Where the judges ruled the same and it took until June 2019 for the appeal of the sentence to be upgraded to rape.

And there have been numerous cases that have gone the same way between 2016 and the one posted in the OP.
It's a thing here it seems and bleak is an appropriate term.

They have at least appointed a panel to look into the laws.

[Hav]

4. Seems like rules of the old times

without much thinking going into them.
Still, 10-12 years sound like a decent punishment and might even be comparable to rape convictions in other countries. I'd be more pissed about lower prison terms for actual rape convictions or no convictions at all.

[harumph]

6. Despite what they're calling it - the sentences seem on par or a little

greater than average in the US for rape.

"Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 9.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_rape

[lostnfound]

7. Stupid law. But ten to twelve years in prison.

The fact that she was only 14 years old should have made it rape automatically.

[StarfishSaver]

9. Unfortunately, it often takes real cases like this to alert people to problems with certain laws

That often happens in the States, as well. For example, as you may know, in many states, a husband forcing himself on his wife wasn't rape because the laws had never been changed after the Constitution and laws started recognizing women as humans and not chattel property. But it wasn't until real cases actually occurred that people realized those laws needed to be changed.

Let's hope that this is an instance in which people are awakened to the need to change the laws to reflect our evolving standards of humanity and decency.