Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that an attack on a teenage woman that shocked Spain was gang rape, rather than an earlier verdict of sexual abuse. The five men, known as the “wolf pack”, were originally given nine years in jail when they were cleared of rape.

But prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court to upgrade the conviction and judges increased their sentences to 15 years. The attack prompted Spain to announce a review of its rape laws. All five had been on provisional release since last year pending the Supreme Court decision. Prosecutors had asked for their jail terms to be doubled to 18 years. Reports say that at least two of the men were detained after the verdict and arrest warrants have been issued for the rest. The court ruled decisively that the five had carried out the attack in “a genuinely intimidating scenario”. Under current Spanish rape law use of intimidation is key to a rape conviction.

In July 2016, when the city of Pamplona was holding its traditional San Fermin bull-running festival, the 18-year-old woman was dragged into the hallway of a residential building. The five men removed her clothes and had unprotected sex with her. Some of them filmed it on their phones. The woman’s phone was also stolen and she was found reportedly in a distraught state.(BBC)…[+]