The Court of Ourense releases a man convicted of attempted rape after applying the 'law of only yes is yes'

The magistrates reduce by one year a sentence that, according to the sentence handed down in 2018, was to be served in February 2023

OURENSE, 16 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Provincial Court of Ourense has released a man convicted of attempted rape more than four years ago, after applying Organic Law 10/2022, of September 6, on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, known as the 'law of only yes is yes'.

Specifically, the Audiencia issued this minor document --against which an appeal can still be filed-- in which they reviewed a previous failure issued by the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia (TSXG) in June 2018, which had been confirmed by the Supreme Court in May 2019.

The person responsible for the attempted attack had been sentenced to three and a half years in prison, which has now been reduced to two and a half, which were already completed in February 2022.

And it is that, according to the previous version of the Penal Code, the attempted crime of sexual assault in its modality of rape entailed penalties of between three and six years in prison, although now, after the reform introduced by the 'law of only yes is yes', the penalty range is between two and four years.

The Court magistrates point out that the TSXG had agreed in 2018 to impose on the defendant the lower-level sentence established for the crime of article 179: three and a half years, "close to the legal minimum" of three years.

Thus, the magistrates explain in the order that, under the new Penal Code, "the sentence of three years and six months would not have been imposed" because it is "so close to the current maximum limit", which is four years. For this reason, and coinciding with the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office and despite the opposition of the private prosecution, they have agreed to lower the sentence.

In addition, the convicted person was released, because the old sentence of three and a half years was going to expire on February 12, 2023 and, according to the new sentence, he would have served it half a year ago.

Organic Law 10/2022 on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom "does not contemplate any normative provision regarding the review of final sentences", the magistrates point out, who therefore apply article 2.2 of the Penal Code, "that establishes the retroactivity of penal laws that favor the accused".

This is the first review of executions of sentences handed down in Galicia after the approval of the 'law of only yes is yes'. In addition, according to the TSXG, it is the only request for a review of the sentence that is pending in the Galician provincial courts.

Until now, the first and only sentence handed down by the TSXG in application of this new law was the one known on Tuesday, in which the Galician high court reviewed a sentence from the Court of A Coruña and reduced the sentence by two years to a man who raped a woman in Cambre.