The Spanish Senate adopted on Tuesday July 19 a bill on sexual violence introducing in particular the obligation of explicit consent, a promise of the left-wing government after a gang rape which had outraged the country.
Contrary to expectations, this text, nicknamed "
only a yes is a yes
", will have to go through the Chamber of Deputies to be definitively adopted there because an amendment has been validated by the Senate.
The deputies had adopted this text in first reading in May.
Read alsoIn Spain, a court decision on the "rape" of an unconscious teenager raises an outcry
Reforming the Penal Code, this bill places “
consent
” at the center, which must be “
freely manifested by acts which (…) clearly express the will of the person
”.
The presence of violence or intimidation will therefore no longer be necessary to qualify as rape, as was the case until now.
Demonstrations demanded this law
This question had been at the heart of the so-called “
La Meute
” affair: the gang rape in 2016 of an 18-year-old young woman during the San Fermin celebrations in Pamplona (North) by five men who had filmed their acts. and bragged about it on a messaging group.
They were sentenced in 2018 to nine years in prison, not for rape but for the offense of “
sexual abuse
”.
Defined by the absence of violence or intimidation, this offence, which carried lesser penalties, will disappear with this new law.
This sentence brought tens of thousands of women to the streets across Spain, shouting "
I believe you, my sister
", and led to numerous calls to toughen the Penal Code.
Faced with this indignation, the Spanish Supreme Court had finally reclassified the facts as “
rape
” in assembly and increased their sentence to 15 years in prison in June 2019.
Read also“Only a yes is a yes”: Spain is preparing to toughen its law on rape with the notion of “explicit consent”
Socialist Pedro Sanchez's government promised to pass a law on explicit consent when it came to power in June 2018. "
We don't want any more
'
packs
'
, neither for us nor for our daughters
," launched on Tuesday, before the vote, Socialist Senator Donelia Roldán Martínez.