Spain: 'Wolf pack' gang rape trial angers protestors

Feminists and legal observers in Spain have expressed outrage at what they claim is “patriarchal justice”, during the trial of five men accused of gang raping an 18-year-old woman, during a bull running festival in 2015.

The judge, who will consider the verdict after Tuesday’s final hearing, has been criticised over decisions to allow evidence to be presented, about the alleged victim’s personal life, while not permitting the inclusion of text conversations between the accused, in which they reportedly discuss plans to rape women.

Police authorities investigated conversations in a WhatsApp group called “La manada” (in English: wolf pack), to which the men belonged and came across an incident in which video showed some of the men apparently abusing another woman, who seemed to be unconscious.

Conversations prior to their journey from Seville to Pamplona mentioned the need to procure date-rape drugs and ropes “because when we get there, we’ll want to rape everything we set our eyes on.”

A private detective’s report, which was commissioned by one of the accused, was compiled by spying on the alleged victim in the aftermath of the attack, including her activity on social media and a holiday with friends.

Two weeks into the trial, the defence decided to withdraw the file as evidence.

The defence strategy was based on an attempt to show that the woman consented to the acts.

The men, who are all in their late 20s, included a Civil Guard police officer, who is also accused of stealing the female’s mobile phone immediately after the incident.

If found guilty, the men could face prison terms of up to 25 years.

"In this trial, it seems that what is being judged is not the crimes, but this woman's honour," says Amalia Fernández, president of Themis, a Spanish organisation of women jurists.

Criticising the judge's decision to include the detective's report and media debates over whether the alleged victim had been truthful in describing the late-night encounter with the men as rape, Ms Fernández sees evidence of a systematic bias against women.

"We live in a society with patriarchal attitudes. Courts reflect society leading to a double victimisation as in this case. In crimes against women, the victim is turned into a suspect, something that never happens to complainants in other crimes."

Fernández questions how the judge could have considered a private detective's report on the student from Madrid to be of any value in evaluating her level of trauma, while describing the material from the accused's WhatsApp conversations as irrelevant in terms of their "preparations" for the alleged crime.

She also criticises the fact that the accused were not cross-examined until the end of the trial after hearing all the other evidence and the testimony of the alleged victim, an extremely rare exception to the norm in Spanish trials in which defendants are put on the stand first.

When the five men finally gave evidence, protestors could be heard outside the Pamplona courthouse shouting slogans including "No means no".

Media reporting, focusing heavily on the alleged victim's credibility, was criticised.

In one instance, a major TV network ran a poll on Twitter asking the public if they believed it was a rape or consensual sex.

Videos of the late-night encounter between the men and the young woman from Madrid show how they wandered the streets among other drunken revellers before two of the men led her into the basement block of flats by the hand.

According to the police report on the case, the men surrounded the teenager in a small alcove, removed her clothes and had unprotected penetrative sex.

The men sent WhatsApp messages to friends celebrating the sex act, and promised to share videos they took on their phones. Those videos have been examined by the court frame by frame.

The police report on the videos says that the alleged victim maintains a "passive or neutral" attitude throughout the scene, keeping her eyes closed at all times.

"I just wanted it to finish as soon as possible," she said on the witness stand.

The woman was found in a reportedly distraught state by a couple in the street outside the scene of the alleged crime. She told the court she is still having psychological treatment to deal with trauma from the alleged attack.