Two imposing iron sculptures flank the Palace of Justice in Murcia: Law and Justice. They are two women dressed in long tunics and barefoot: one carries in her hands a scroll and a book on which one can read “Law”, while the other holds a balance of scales and grasps a sword that lies on the ground. This Sunday at 8 p.m., several hundred people gathered in front of this building that houses the Provincial Court of Murcia to demonstrate their rejection of the conviction “of the seven Murcian businessmen who were part of a network of prostitution of minors”. While “Shame!”, “Corrupt justice!” and “No to impunity!” In an atmosphere of tension, Law remained intrepid and Justice continued with his eyes closed.
The Feminist Assembly of the Region of Murcia, when reading its manifesto, named one by one the seven businessmen who, ten years ago, raped minors between the ages of 14 and 17 in an unstructured or vulnerable family context and offered them money, calling them “a gang of depraved sex pimps.”
The names of the six intermediaries were also read out, “four women who played the role of recruiters, facilitators and instigators”, as well as the “cooperators necessary for this play” who charged a commission with the prostitution of minors, captured at the gates of their schools or youth clubs.
New calls
Its president, Gloria Alarcón, has announced new calls for feminist rallies in front of the Palace of Justice in the capital Murcia and in the other provincial courts of the country, on September 24 and October 6 at 8 p.m.: on the first day, the Prosecutor Superior of the Region of Murcia, José Luis Díaz Manzanera, has called a meeting of prosecutors to discuss the advisability of requesting prison for the members of the plot and in the second, the ratification of the sentence will take place in the Provincial Court.
“It is impossible that those who claim to have committed these crimes do not go to prison,” said Alarcón, who gave the French case of Gisèle Pericot as an example to continue saying that “the one who should be ashamed is not the one who consumed her body, but the one who paid to consume it; even more so if they are minors and if they are girls in a situation of predetermined vulnerability.
“This happened today in Murcia, but unfortunately it could happen elsewhere. Here these girls have their pack and their pack is all of us who are gathered here,” stressed the former vice-president of the Regional Assembly.
This is not the only time the case of the “herd” of Paseo de Garay, in the Murcian capital, has been mentioned. Marta Latorre, spokesperson for the feminist collective Fuste, responsible for hanging several banners denouncing the sentences last Friday in the section of the Segura River in front of the Palace of Justice, recalled the feminist mobilizations organized after the first sentence of the Provincial Court of Navarre against the case of “the herd”. “This broad wave of mobilization throughout Spain has precisely called into question the result of this sentence. It seems to us that the indignation aroused by this sentence could have a similar trajectory.”
“The trials were held independently of each of the attackers, while we believe that a real pimping plot should have been pursued and, obviously, we imagine that they would have received other sentences,” said María Marín, Podemos spokesperson in the Regional Assembly.
For Marín, it is “incomprehensible” how “mitigating circumstances, such as excessive delay, were taken into account, but very little aggravating circumstances, such as the fact that they were particularly vulnerable minors.”
“These convictions raise a lot of social concern about the powerlessness in which women find themselves. What is sad is that we have been denouncing for many years that seven out of ten convictions for sexual crimes in the Region, the convicted aggressors end up on the street with nothing, with ridiculous sentences.
Request for the imprisonment of “all or part of the convicted persons”
In principle, the sentences imposed on the seven businessmen who abused minors began at four years in prison, but after reaching an agreement with the prosecutor’s office, they were reduced to approximately five and seven months for each crime, under the mitigating circumstance of excessive delay. Those who will serve five-month prison sentences for each of the victims will not go to prison. The situation of those prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison – the pimps and cooperators – remains to be confirmed.
In this sense, the Attorney General of the Region, José Luis Díaz Manzanera, said last Friday on Onda Regional that at a next meeting of prosecutors, in October, they would discuss “the possibility that some or all of the convicted will be imprisoned.” This would include businessmen who, in principle, have escaped prison. Regarding compensation, the accused must pay between 500 and 2,000 euros per victim. Added to this are the fines, which vary between 450 and 720 euros.
When reading the manifesto, it was also pointed out that the Provincial Court of Murcia has become “in recent years the center of controversy for its convictions in matters of sexual assault, gender violence, emotional diversity or prostitution of minors, as in this last case.” “It is not worth it for us that the delays endured by the judicial system make the unjustified delay serve as a mitigating circumstance and lead to a reduction in the sentence,” they added.
Marina, 31, who was among the last ranks of protesters gathered around the Palais de Justice, wondered how it was possible that “the Mrs “They have longer sentences than the shameless.” “It’s something that doesn’t come to mind,” the young woman said as artificial castles played celebrating the last days of the Murcian capital’s fair and shouts of “Petrolero, whore!”, “Prosecutor, listen to society!” and “Enough of patriarchal justice!”
“Highly qualified” unjustified delay
Judicial sources said the sentences of the businessmen and pimps were so diluted due to the mitigating circumstance of a “very nuanced” undue delay when a decade had passed since the events, which reduced the sentences imposed by up to two degrees.
Undue delays are a type of mitigating circumstance that allows for a reduction in sentence when the processing of criminal proceedings has taken an excessive and unnecessary time, provided that this delay is not attributable to the prisoner and that the excessive duration of the proceedings is not attributable to its complexity.
Pimps, for their part, face sentences of up to 16 years in prison in some cases, but since each of the individual offences carries a two-year prison sentence, the court has discretion in deciding whether they go to prison.
The state attorney general’s office announced in 2022 that it would prepare a circular to end compliance agreements based on mitigating undue delays in crimes against sexual freedom. The document has not yet been published, although it should be ready by the end of this year: “I imagine it is complicated, a circular aimed at all prosecutors in Spain is not easy,” Díaz Manzanera told the newspaper. The prosecutor stressed that the protections should go further and that “we should consider prioritizing cases involving minors involved in the accusations.”
