Llop warns Podemos about the 'only yes is yes' vote: "We cannot be divided on such important issues"

He defends the reform drafted by his Ministry to "correct" the law promoted by Equality

MADRID, 6 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, has assured this Monday - with a view to the vote that will be held tomorrow Tuesday in Congress on the reform of what is known as the 'only yes is yes' law - that the PSOE and its partners in the Government of United We Can not be "divided" on an issue "so important" that what it intends is to "correct a situation" that has led to at least 721 reductions in sentences for those convicted of sexual crimes.

This was pronounced this Monday in statements to the press within the framework of the 'Justice and Equality Days' organized by the Ministry that he directs on the occasion of International Women's Day, which is commemorated on March 8.

Asked about the negotiations for the vote that will be held tomorrow in Congress - and in which Unidas Podemos will not support the text promoted by the PSOE -, Llop has assured that "the dialogue has never stopped". "There has been constant dialogue with different political forces (...) not only with Podemos," she pointed out.

"Dialogue has never stopped and what I would hope is that there would be an agreement (...) We cannot be divided on issues as important as these that what they want is only to correct a situation," he added.

In line, the minister has stressed that political formations should be "looking beyond any type of political interest." "Here the only interest is the victims (...) and the fathers and mothers of those children who have seen their sentences reduced by the application of a law that is very positive in all aspects related to prevention and awareness (...) but that nonetheless has had an effect that nobody wanted in the application of some penalties", he indicated.

Within the framework of his statements, Llop has spoken about the words of the leader of Podemos and Minister of Social Rights Ione Belarra pronounced yesterday Sunday during the presentation in Madrid of the book 'Memories of a combat pilot', written by the spokesman for United We Can in Congress Pablo Echenique.

Specifically, Belarra reproached the PSOE for going as a "feminist party" but then giving "a pig in a poke" if it votes with PP and Vox "returning to the Penal Code of 'the herd'". This Monday, after being asked by the press, the Minister of Justice has assured that she is not going for anything in life.

"I am not going for anything in life. I am only going for a person who has been working in this field all my life, for many years, and when I have shown the pain that this causes in the victims, I have assumed an enormous responsibility to put a solution on the table", said the head of Justice.

Thus, Llop has ensured that the solution he has presented "will not be a perfect solution, because obviously the reviews have been consolidated and cannot be modified because our legislation requires that when there are more favorable sentences (...) you have to apply". But he has stressed that he has put an initiative on the table to try to correct the situation.

The minister has stressed that the bill that the Socialist Group has presented in Congress "does not touch consent" and respects the model that unifies the crimes of abuse and sexual assault. "What it intends is to establish regulatory adjustments so that what is more serious can be punished with a penalty proportional to that seriousness," she stressed.

The head of Justice recalled that before the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom there were two different crimes: sexual abuse and sexual assault. "Not now, now it is the unified model," she pointed out.

Llop explained that in the current law they have "identified a problem that has been evidenced when reviewing the sentences." "We have seen that there have been very significant drops in sentences and in some cases of releases as well", he has indicated while acknowledging that this has "generated unrest" in the population.

The minister has insisted that by identifying this "problem" in the law, what they have done are "regulatory adjustments that allow what is more serious to be punished with a proportionate penalty."

In line, she has stressed that she does not like to refer to the previous Penal Code as that of 'the herd'. "It's that 'the herd' has a victim and as long as we don't stop talking about this issue, that victim will not be able to recover from it (...) She will know that we are constantly talking about her," he added.

In this sense, Llop has highlighted that "there is an element in the law of 'only yes is yes' which is the social reparation of the victims". "If we stop talking about specific cases, we will also help the victims to repair themselves socially," he pointed out.