Four men accused of sexual abuse two months before Pamplona attack for which they were cleared of rape

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Spanish prosecutors have brought another sex crime charge against four men calling themselves “the wolf pack” who assaulted a young woman at the Pamplona bull-running festival in 2016.

In a controversial ruling last year, a Spanish court gave nine-year prison sentences to the men for sexually abusing the 18-year-old in a doorway, but cleared them of rape because of a lack of physical violence.

The case gained notoriety amid the global #MeToo movement and brought calls for changes to Spain’s rape law.

In the new case, the Andalusia regional prosecutor’s office said it was seeking a seven-year prison sentence for sexual abuse and other crimes suspected to have been committed in Pozoblanco, southern Spain, two months earlier.

Evidence was found against four of the five men being investigated over the case at the San Fermin festival in the northern city of Pamplona.

Investigators found a video on the cellphone of one of the accused, in which men appeared to abuse an unconscious woman inside a car after a night of partying. The woman was notified about the video and the new case was opened, the prosecutor’s office said.

As Pamplona's bull-running fiesta kicks off, attitudes are changing Read more

Despite the original ruling against them, the men were released on bail last June on a legal technicality that says no one can be held for more than two years without a definitive sentence.

A rape charge in Spain requires a plaintiff to present evidence of specific violence such as being threatened with a knife or dealt physical blows. The government has said it plans to change the penal code to make rape convictions easier.

The annual bull-running festival in the Navarran capital, Pamplona, is famed for its drunken revelry. Concern has grown over increased reports of sex attacks and harassment at the event as well mistreatment of women in general in Spain.