At least 42 convicts have benefited from the "only yes is yes" law and 10 have been released

A previous conviction is reduced to 37 while the reform of the Penal Code is directly applied to 5

MADRID, 29 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The number of convicts who have benefited from the new penalty framework included in the 'only yes is yes' law amounts to at least 42, between lower sentence reviews (37) and subsequent sentences in application of the rule (5). A total of 10 people have been released.

The latest reductions that have come to light have been issued by the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday sentenced two former players in the 'Arandina case' to 9 years in prison. The magistrates have raised their sentences - from 4 and 3 years that had been set by the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCyL) - after eliminating the mitigation that had been appreciated due to the closeness of age and maturity between the convicted and the victim .

The Supreme Court has upheld the appeal of the Prosecutor's Office, although not entirely because the Public Ministry requested a 10-year sentence and the Supreme Court has left it one year less due to the application of the 'only yes is yes' law.

In the ruling, which has been advanced this Tuesday, the magistrates have stressed that the Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom "may be applied to the benefit of the prisoner when a lower penalty is now set in those cases in which it proceeds."

They have qualified, however, that it must be done "analyzing case by case, and not globally, both in matters pending trial, appeals and cassation and in criminal enforcement."

This contrasts with the criterion established last week by the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, so that sentences will not be modified when they can be imposed with the new criminal framework, a criterion that would avoid an "automatic" reduction of sentences.

The Organic Law for the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom has caused the crime of sexual assault to absorb that of sexual abuse, which means that a crime that until now included a more serious conduct incorporates a less serious one, for which the criminal fork it has also been expanded to cover the full range of behaviors now punishable as sexual assault.

Among the sentence reviews and sentence reductions, the sources consulted by Europa Press have confirmed 20 in Madrid, three in Cantabria, three in Galicia, two in the Balearic Islands, two in Castilla y León, two in the Supreme Court, one in Andalusia, one in Asturias, one in Castilla-La Mancha, one in Murcia and one in the Canary Islands. 10 of these 35 cases have led to the release of convicts: six from Madrid, two from the Balearic Islands, one from Galicia, and one from Cantabria.

Regarding the new sentences handed down after the reform, sources consulted by Europa Press explain that the TSJ of Galicia has applied the new sentences in one case, that in the Provincial Court of León they have been applied in two and that in the Provincial Court of Barcelona it has applied in one This Tuesday a case has emerged in the Provincial Court of Girona.

Until now, the largest number of reviews have come to light in the courts of Madrid, where 20 sentences of sexual abuse and/or assault have been lowered due to the application of the 'only yes is yes' law. In addition, 7 releases have been issued, although one has not materialized because the convicted person has other pending sentences. In the resolutions to which Europa Press has had access, prison sentences are reduced by up to 5 years.

Among the cases of sentence reduction that Europa Press has been able to confirm, there is also evidence that the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has reduced the sentence imposed on the perpetrator of a crime of sexual abuse without precedent from 10 to 9 years.

The TSJ of Murcia has ratified a sentence on a defendant for an attempted sexual assault on a woman in 2020. The court, however, has modified the sentence imposed because it is "more favorable" for the prisoner to apply the 'law of only yes' is if'. Thus, it has reduced the sentence from 4 years and 6 months to 3 years and 1 day in prison.

On the sidelines, the Balearic Court has ordered the immediate release of two prisoners who were serving a 3-year prison sentence for two sexual assaults without penetration after reviewing the cases.

The legal sources consulted by Europa Press have pointed out that in Castilla y León, in the Segovia Court, a sentence for sexual crimes has been reduced from 12 years to 9 years in prison.

For its part, the Valladolid Court has reduced a sentence from 12 to 10 years in prison for a sexual assault on a minor under 16 years of age.

In addition, it is clear that the TSJ of Andalusia has dismissed an appeal and, although it has confirmed the sentence, has reduced the prison sentence. Thus, he has gone from 13 years, 6 months and 1 day to 11 years and 1 day.

Added to the list is the case of the TSJ of Castilla-La Mancha, which has lowered the sentence of a man for a sexual assault in Ciudad Real. He has gone from having to serve 9 years in prison to 8. The Prosecutor's Office has already warned that it will appeal this decision.

On the sidelines, the TSJ of Asturias has reduced the sentence of a man accused of sexual abuse of a child under 16 from 10 to 9 years in prison.

Yesterday, Monday, three more cases resolved by the TSJ of Galicia and by the Provincial Court of Cantabria were announced. In the Galician case, the sentence imposed on a man for sexually assaulting a minor whom he had met through Instagram has been reduced from 8 to 6 years.

This case is added to two others that were announced last week in Galicia. One of the Court of Ourense, where they have reviewed a sentence imposed on a man for an attempted sexual assault with carnal access and have reduced the sentence from 3 years and 6 months in prison to 2 years and 6 months and have agreed to put it into freedom. And another from the TSJ of Galicia, where the prison sentence imposed on a man who raped a woman he met through the Tinder social network in Cambre has been reduced by 2 years.

In the Cantabrian case, it was announced this Monday that the prison sentences imposed in 2020 on two convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Santander hostel have been reduced by 7 years. Thus, they have gone from a sentence of 18 years in prison to 11 years.

These two cases are added to a third that the Court of Cantabria had already reported, in which the sentence of a man who sexually assaulted a woman was reduced from 5 to 2 years in prison.

The sources consulted by Europa Press have specified that the number of cases in which the reductions are applied could be increased in the coming days due to the pending revisions.

Last week, the Provincial Courts of the Valencian Community indicated that they are reviewing more than 100 sentences. For their part, the three Provincial Courts of Euskadi have already received at least 10 requests for revisions of sentences for sexual crimes.

In Madrid, they have 447 cases of sexual abuse and/or sexual assault that have been firmly convicted, with a convicted person admitted to prison, subject to review after the entry into force of Organic Law 10/2022. Of these cases, and ex officio, the magistrates already began the review of 121 last week. At the request of a party, the review of 55 is being processed.

At least a fortnight of the 52 provincial hearings have been pronounced in the last weeks. 10 of them have shown themselves in favor of applying the criteria most favorable to the prisoner in reviews of convictions of sexual offenders after the entry into force of what is known as the 'only yes is yes' law.

Faced with these decisions, at least three provincial courts have reported that they will not reduce the sentences when the sentences that were imposed may also be taxable under the new law.