Two 'Wolf Pack' rapists use Spanish law change to trim sentences

A Spanish court on Thursday reduced the sentences of two of five men convicted in the so-called "Wolf Pack" rape case in 2016 after a change in the country's sexual crimes law inadvertently created a much-criticised loophole.

The court, in the Navarra region where the gang rape took place, said it was "legally bound" to apply the reduction after another member of the group had his sentence trimmed by a year after a successful appeal to the Supreme Court in 2024.

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 to 15 years in prison in 2019.

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.

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.