argia.eus
INPRIMATU
The Government of Navarre opposes the reduction of the sentence to two members of La Manada
  • After the two defendants requested that the prison sentence be reinstated, the first Vice-President, Felix Taberna, stated that there were no legal conditions to reduce the sentence: "The crime is serious enough to keep the penalties as they are." The defense attorney denounces that the victim was spied on by two detectives for three months.
Eneko Imaz Galparsoro 2025eko otsailaren 19a
"La Manada"-ren aurka eginiko manifestazioa. Fotomovimiento (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Five men, known as La Manada, are serving sentences of fifteen years in prison for gang rape in Sanfermin in 2016. Well, two of these five –José Ángel Prenda and Jesús Escudero– have asked the Second Section of the Tribunal of Navarre to review the sentence imposed on them, protected by the law Only Yes is Yes, which came into force in Spain in 2022.

Another rapist from La Manada, Ángel Boza, took refuge in the same law in July 2024 to reduce the sentence imposed on him, as confirmed by the High Court of Justice of Navarre, which reduced the prison sentence from fifteen to fourteen years. The judges of the Spanish Supreme Court stated in that case that the defendant was "close" to the minimum penalty that was legally established at the time when he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but It is only affirmative that the minimum penalty that could be established for this crime after the adoption of the law was reduced in one year and three months.

However, the Government of Navarre opposes the reduction of the prison sentence of Prenda and Escudero. First Vice President Felix Taberna said at a press conference on Monday that there is no "legal requirement" to reduce the punishment of the defendants: "As a popular accusation, we believe that the automatic reduction of sanctions should not be applied mechanically, but investigated."

Detectives hired to spy on the victim

The woman ' s defence counsel alleges that two detectives followed the victim of gang rape for three months and demands prison sentences for them. (Defense) According to the lawyer, the two detectives were hired by the mother of one of the five rapists and took pictures of the woman's intimate life, for example, while she was with friends and/or family.

Although the report completed with the follow-up of the woman was included in the investigation against five men, it was withdrawn during the trial. After the report was made, the detectives concluded that the woman who suffered the gang rape did not change her usual way of life after the sexual assault: "He smokes, goes out at night, and drinks coffee with his friends," they argued. The victim’s defense has demanded a two-year prison sentence for the two detectives for two crimes: the crime of exposing secrets and the crime of intimacy.