After a beating from her husband, Elisa went to the police. She had many reports: psychologists and social workers claimed that she was a victim of gender-based violence, that she had been mistreated for years and that her daughter had been harmed to witness such violence.

She relied on justice, but when the day of the trial came she met an unforeseen one: her husband had also denounced Elisa. Elisa, while defending himself from this beating, fingered her husband and the man used him to say that he had also been assaulted. The judge issued a restraining order against both, as if it were an isolated fight. Moreover, the judge considered that Elisa, as an engineer, did not comply with the profile of victim of ill-treatment attributed to him by the aforementioned victim.

From time to time, in the debate on male violence, the rumour of false allegations is gaining strength: women have used the Anti-Gender Violence Act consistently to avenge their partners or ex-partners or to win the war of divorce: house, car... Feminists respond through official data: false allegations are only 0.014%. But there's another kind of false denunciation, much more widespread and hidden.

The false accusation against her wife was not an improvisation of Elisa's husband. Your lawyer probably recommended that defensive strategy. The strategy of cross-reporting is a rather malicious means of avoiding penalties. Amnesty International and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) have expressed this concern over gender violence in recent years. In 2011, 509 women were convicted of crimes of gender-based violence. In most cases, women withdraw the complaint for fear that they may end criminal records.

This strategy is successful because it meets the needs of the courts. Most women do not have the opportunity to prepare the case properly. In rapid trials, they have barely five minutes to speak to the lawyer of their own office. In five minutes, the ten-year machist violence cannot be explained, nor can the appropriate strategy be agreed upon to carry it out. Among the aggressors, however, it is more common for them to be able to pay a lawyer.

Last year, 43.2% of the complaints were filed in the Spanish State for lack of evidence, according to the data provided. But the tests are not sought. Only a lot of judges want to know something about the last fight. It does not analyse in detail whether there has been an episode of violence for years, it does not ask for psychological reports, it does not take into account economic or sexual violence, nor does it seek evidence of control or humiliation. When there are cross-complaints, it is easy for the judge to make an extreme and comfortable decision: to file the complaints of both or to punish both.
When a woman takes the step of denouncing male partner violence for years, if the case is filed or it is also denounced and condemned, she will lose her trust in justice and the man will feel victorious. That is a real and worrying situation.

I've summarized the main ideas of a report I've published in Pikara's fourth yearbook. Since I prepared that report, when someone asks me about the false allegations, I tell you all of this.