Five men were convicted over the gang rape of a girl at the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016. Two of five men convicted in the so-called "Wolf Pack" rape case in 2016 have had their sentences reduced. A Spanish court said it was "legally bound" to apply the reduction after a change in the country's sexual crimes law inadvertently created a much-criticised loophole.
![[A protester holds a placard reading 'No is no. If I don't tell you yes, it is also no' during a demonstration]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/04/27/08/spain-wolf-pack2.jpg)
In 2024, another member of the group had his sentence trimmed by a year after a successful appeal to the Supreme Court. The "Wolf Pack" case, in which a teenaged girl was gang raped at the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona, triggered massive protests and calls for legal changes after the five defendants were initially convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse because the 18-year-old victim did not resist out of fear.
They were re-sentenced for rape in 2019 and had their sentences raised from nine to 15 years. On Tuesday, in a court in the Navarra region where the gang rape took place, their sentences were reduced to 14 years. The public outrage and several years of political debate culminated in the approval of a law classifying all non-consensual sex as rape in 2022.
Under the old legislation, rape convictions could only be secured if prosecutors could prove that violence or intimidation had been used. But because the new law, dubbed "only yes means yes," carries a lower minimum sentence - the result of merging the crimes of sexual abuse and aggression - it has enabled some perpetrators convicted before it took effect to successfully seek reduced sentences or early release.
More than 1,000 imprisoned offenders had their sentences reduced by late 2023, forcing the government to apologise and amend the law with effect on crimes committed from 2023. When the sentence of one of the “wolf pack” rapists was reduced in 2023, Isabel Rodriguez, Spain’s acting government spokesperson, said the government still takes the interests of victims of sexual violence “seriously”.
