The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, apologized to victims of sexual assault for the reduction of sentences and early releases of some convicts following a controversial penal reform. The “solo sí es sí” law, in force since October 2022, was a left-wing promise to respond to the outrage provoked by the case of “La Manada,” a gang rape during the San Fermin festival in 2016. However, the reform led to reduced sentences in numerous cases of sexual violence, which led to more than 970 convicts seeing their prison years reduced and more than 100 being released, according to the latest judicial data.
Sanchez apologized to the victims for the unwanted effects of the reform in an interview with the newspaper El Correo published this Sunday. In addition, he stated that no deputy, even from the parliamentary groups that voted against the law, agrees with lowering the penalties for sex offenders. The regulation reduced the minimum and maximum sentences for some cases, which led many convicted offenders to ask for a review of the sentence, since in Spain new laws can be applied retroactively if they benefit the offender.
Although the reform tightened the legal arsenal against rape, eliminating the most minor “abuses” and integrating all sexual crimes into the category of “aggressions,” its undesired effects led to an apology from the government and a promise to put a solution on the table to resolve the situation.