The TC will review the sentencing reduction of a professor who sexually abused three companions

The constitutional court will review a sentence of the Provincial Court of Seville that a sentence of 7 years imprisonment and nine months imprisonment for sexual abuse and injuries reduced to two years and eight months. This is the sentence that was finally imposed on the professor at the University of Seville, Santiago Romero Granados, for abuse three university professors from the same area. The First Chamber has allowed for the processing of the amparo appeal lodged by one of them, provided that the matter is of particular constitutional importance, in accordance with its latest resolutions, in which it showing a special sensitivity to the issues what concerns society, such as the application of the gender perspective unjust.

The request for amparo, whose admission for processing takes place in such a low percentage that it is usually synonymous with the future assessment of the appeal, is based on the fact that the appeal decision from which Romero benefited is a mitigating circumstance for unnecessary delays. qualified. , which meant places the responsibility for the delays experienced in the procedure on their victims. The appeal alleges that it violated the right to effective judicial protection of the women who exercised the private charge, as well as their rights to non-discrimination based on sex and to integrity.

first conviction

The man, who was rector of the Faculty of Education at the University of Seville, was sentenced by a court in that city for three ongoing crimes of sexual abuse, with the ordinary mitigation of unnecessary delay, to sentences of 2 years and 3 months imprisonment and disqualification for each of the crimes of sexual abuse and another year imprisonment for psychological injuries, totaling 7 years and 9 months imprisonment.

The court ruling considered it evidence that his victims, who were forced to leave the university, suffered “with libidinous spirit” from touch and comment. Among the proven facts was an episode in which he pushed a teacher who was struggling to pick something up and called her a “whore”.

When the provincial court of Seville reviewed the sentence, it highly qualified mitigating unnecessary delay, as the events took place between 2006 and 2010 and the first sentence was only delivered in January 2017. It meant reduce his sentence by two degrees and acquit him of the crime of injuries, in such a way that the final sentences imposed were one year for the continued sexual abuse of the appellant in amparo and ten months for each of the sexual abuses of the other two teachers, which means only two years and eight months imprisonment has.

to full

The First Chamber, chaired by the President of the Court, Pedro Gonzalez-Trevijano, is of the opinion that this appeal has special constitutional significance, therefore it will be brought to the plenary session, with the aim that the court, if necessary, changes or refines its doctrine, sources of the court informed this newspaper.

Related news

To this end, it will evaluate the regulatory changes made to the configuration of the content of the law, such as the need to include, in cases such as the present, persecution with a gender perspective, in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention and Control of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

It was precisely the need to resolve issues with a gender perspective that was a demand of the magistrate. Mary Louise Balaguer, present in the majority of his individual votes. In addition to her, there are now two other magistrates in the Constitutional Court: Concepción Espejel en Immaculate Montalban, specializing in gender equality and in the fight against sexist violence.