Spain: Infamous gang-rape “Wolf Pack’ members get increased prison sentence after change in law
5722 Mins Read
Spain’s Supreme Court has increased the sentence for member’s of the infamous “Wolf Pack” from nine years in prison to 15.
It also ruled that their attack on a teenage woman, which shocked Spain, was gang rape rather than sexual abuse, Euronews reports.
ElPais reports that all the members of the gang – José Ángel Prenda, Jesús Escudero, Ángel Pozas, Alfonso Jesús Cabezuelo and Antonio Manuel Guerrero – have had their sentences increased, but in the case of the latter, the court added another two years for having stolen the victim’s cellphone after the sexual assault. The judges also increased the compensation owed to the youngster to €100,000.
The five men assaulted an 18-year-old woman at the Pamplona bull-running San Fermin festival in 2016. Judges’ verdicts in last year’s trial were based on cellphone videos in which the victim was not seen to be objecting. Under Spanish law, an assault must involve “intimidation” or “violence” to be considered as rape.
In light of the attack, Spain announced a review of its rape laws.
A public outcry and street protests were sparked in June 2018 when the five were released on bail pending appeals against their nine-year jail terms. All members of the group had been on provisional release since then pending the Supreme Court decision.
Prosecutors had asked for their sentences to be increased to 18 years.
The men carried out the attack in “a genuinely intimidating scenario,” the court ruled — current Spanish rape law stipulates that intimidation is key to a rape conviction.
