The third time will be the charm. This is how the feminist groups and several hundred people who participated in the demonstration called this Sunday at 8 p.m. in front of the Provincial Court of Murcia to protest against the conviction of the network of sexual abuse of minors, for which they been released. to imprison both businessmen who raped teenage girls between 15 and 17 years old as well as pimps who sought them out in schools or light discos.
Monday and Tuesday October 7 and 8 will take place the hearings during which the defenders of the businessmen and pimps convicted on September 11 for sexual abuse of minors will propose alternatives to temporary prison, the complete opposite of what was requested in this matter. demonstration. Slogans like “They were minors, rapist businessmen!” », “It’s not justice, it’s impunity!” » or “There is no justice, a sexist sentence!” They made it very clear. Confirmation of the final sentence will be known on Wednesday or Thursday.
During the reading of the manifesto of the Feminist Assembly of the Region of Murcia, this case was presented as a “clear example of institutionalized impunity”, while the agreement reached by the prosecution with the lawyers of the convicts was handed over in question. They consider that this decision reveals “a failure of the system that has occurred too many times in the Provincial Court of Murcia”.
“The punishment must be both legal and moral.” They also called for “exemplary sanctions” for criminals and “more prevention and education in all school programs in the region” to avoid further attacks on sexual freedom.
In a completely unprecedented move, the Provincial Court met last Wednesday with some of the victims of this sexual exploitation network to question them about the suspension of the prison sentences of their attackers. They repeated what they had already said and it was recorded on video: they convinced them at school that they had a job for them, they got them drugged and drunk in a chalet on the outskirts of Murcia and they raped them. Several of them. The businessmen wanted to be with young virgin minors, girls “young and new,” as detailed in the 2019 prosecutor’s indictment. National police told one of the mothers that if the judge had not given the order, if if they entered the chalet, the traffickers would have taken their daughter to the countryside.
The sentences handed down against the five pimps and collaborators and the seven businessmen who abused the girls ten years ago were individual. Due to the excessive delay, ten years before the trial, the sentences were reduced by two degrees.
Gloria Alarcón, president of the Feminist Political Forum of the Region of Murcia, believes that it is possible that the convicts will end up entering prison. » In remarks made to the channel last Friday by the Regional Attorney General [José Luis Díaz Manzanera] It should be added that the magistrate asked the victims this week what they thought of the fact that their attackers did not go to prison. I’m not an expert on this, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. It seems to me that this whole social movement of rejection has had an impact.”
After reading the manifesto, representatives of the Feminist Assembly of the Region of Murcia read aloud the names and surnames of those convicted and added “businessman, criminal, sexual predator of girls.” The demonstrators responded loudly and clearly: “Rapist!
The Court then ruled in accordance with the agreement reached between the prosecutor – the only accusation present in this case – and the accused, after recognizing the facts and accepting the sentences requested by the public prosecutor.
The spokesperson for the Fuste collective, Marta Latorre, stressed that “the judge has a certain power to see if the interests of the victims have been sufficiently taken into account and if the sanctions provide for compensation for the damage”. It is not acceptable to have agreements to conform to these characteristics.
The group unfurled a huge red banner with black letters demanding “Justice”. From Fuste, they hope that the pressure exerted by civil society and the media in response to this judgment, as to others, could mark “a turning point”.
“The tip of the iceberg”
Political parties were also present. María Marín, spokesperson for Podemos in the Regional Assembly, described this conviction as “a shame” and stressed that it was “a case of pedophilia and pimping.” Marín described this case as “the tip of the iceberg”: “In the region of Murcia we have had these types of cases for many years, such as rape or gender-based violence. »
The PSOE of the Region presented this week a motion to the Regional Assembly to request “an academic program that openly integrates sexual education depending on the age of the students at all times”, with particular emphasis on the prevention of sexual abuse, sexual transmission. or unwanted pregnancies.
From the Columbine Feminist Journalists Platform recalled that this week there was “a less publicized case of a man who raped a minor and to whom the same mitigating circumstances of unjustified delays were applied. “Justice cannot allow this when it comes to minors.”
Raquel, 50, responded to three calls to protest the conviction. “I don’t want to live in a society that lets crimes go unpunished. Additionally, I try to represent victims who cannot be here because they are in so much pain that they cannot be present here or at the trial.
