The CGPJ already warned in 2021 that the 'only yes is yes' law would lead to downward revisions of sentences

MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) already warned in February 2021 in its mandatory report on the draft Organic Law on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, known as the 'only yes is yes' law, that its approval would cause the review to the reduction of those convictions in which maximum penalties had been imposed in accordance with the previous regulation.

This is reflected in its report by the governing body of the judges, which in 150 pages reels off its opinion on one of the star reforms of the Ministry of Equality, directed by Irene Montero.

In point 241, the rapporteur of the report analyzed the penological framework of the norm for crimes of sexual assault and warned that it meant "a reduction in the maximum limit of some penalties".

It should be remembered that this week the defense of the members of 'La Manada', sentenced to 15 years by the Supreme Court for the multiple rape committed in the 2016 Sanfermines, announced that they were going to request a review of the sentence of their defendants on the basis of in the new criminal forks of the law promoted by Equality.

The CGPJ explained in its report that in the basic type of sexual assault a sentence of 1 to 4 years was established, while the previous one marked it in the range of 1 to 5 years. In the case of rape, the bill provides for a prison sentence of 4 to 10 years, while previously it was sentenced to 6 to 12 years, and in the case of sexual abuse with penetration, sentences of 4 to 10 years.

The same happens with the aggravated types in sexual assault that with the reform go from 2 to 6 years while before the range was from 5 to 10 years. As for the aggravated type of rape, it goes from a range of 12 to 15 to a sentence of 7 to 12 years.

The CGPJ in its report criticized that Equality in its preliminary draft "does not offer a justification for the new penalty thresholds provided" and that effectively "the reduction of the maximum limits of penalties will entail the review of those sentences in which the maximum penalties in accordance with current regulations" --by the previous one--.

Last Wednesday, and before the news that the lawyer of 'La Manada' could request a reduction of the sentence, the Government delegate against Gender Violence, Victoria Rosell, described the matter as "propaganda" because the rule did not allow revisions of sentences of 15 years.

Through his Twitter account, he explained that "there is no attenuation or decriminalization" for sentences of 15 years with the new norm, definitively approved last week.

"They want to discredit the law (...) and scare women. But with this law we have more security and rights," Rosell said then.

However, the criminal expert José María de Pablo recalled in his analysis of the new penological types that the criminal laws that favor the inmate are applicable retroactively, and allow prior convictions to be reviewed.