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Spain's 'Wolf Pack' bailed pending appeal against sexual abuse conviction
Source: The Guardian
Spain's 'Wolf Pack' bailed pending appeal against sexual abuse conviction
Latest ruling could provoke further protests following outrage when judges dropped rape charges
Stephen Burgen in Barcelona
Thu 3 Jan 2019 11.36 GMT
A Spanish court has ruled that the five members of the so-called “Wolf Pack” who were convicted of sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona in 2016 can remain at liberty pending an appeal to the supreme court.
There was outrage last April when judges dropped rape charges against José Ángel Prenda, Alfonso Cabezuelo, Antonio Manuel Guerrero, Jesús Escudero and Ángel Boza and instead convicted them of the lesser charge of sexual abuse, sentencing them to nine years. The accused appealed but the sentence was confirmed in December.
Now judges in Navarra have voted by two to one that the five do not present a flight risk and can remain on bail until the supreme court ruling. According to the victim’s lawyer, there is almost no likelihood of the court overturning the verdict or reducing the sentence. No date has been set for the hearing.
While on remand the five suspects, who include a soldier and a member of the civil guard and are all from Seville, have to report to the court once a week and are prevented from visiting Madrid, the victim’s hometown.
This latest ruling is expected to provoke further protests at what many see as the kid glove treatment of the five – whose WhatsApp group was called La Manada, or the Wolf Pack – on the part of the authorities.
-snip-
Latest ruling could provoke further protests following outrage when judges dropped rape charges
Stephen Burgen in Barcelona
Thu 3 Jan 2019 11.36 GMT
A Spanish court has ruled that the five members of the so-called “Wolf Pack” who were convicted of sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona in 2016 can remain at liberty pending an appeal to the supreme court.
There was outrage last April when judges dropped rape charges against José Ángel Prenda, Alfonso Cabezuelo, Antonio Manuel Guerrero, Jesús Escudero and Ángel Boza and instead convicted them of the lesser charge of sexual abuse, sentencing them to nine years. The accused appealed but the sentence was confirmed in December.
Now judges in Navarra have voted by two to one that the five do not present a flight risk and can remain on bail until the supreme court ruling. According to the victim’s lawyer, there is almost no likelihood of the court overturning the verdict or reducing the sentence. No date has been set for the hearing.
While on remand the five suspects, who include a soldier and a member of the civil guard and are all from Seville, have to report to the court once a week and are prevented from visiting Madrid, the victim’s hometown.
This latest ruling is expected to provoke further protests at what many see as the kid glove treatment of the five – whose WhatsApp group was called La Manada, or the Wolf Pack – on the part of the authorities.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/03/spain-wolf-pack-bailed-pending-appeal-against-sexual-abuse-conviction