RIGHTS-SPAIN: Women in Fear of Their Lives – and Husbands

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Oct 6 1998 (IPS) - Maria Luisa Lopez, like many other women in Spain, lives in fear of her life. Because even though her husband almost killed her, he may soon be out on bail.

Lopez, age 60, who lives in a town near Madrid, dared to report her husband to the police after 34 years of physical and psychological abuse.

Her husband, Edelmiro, age 65, asked her shortly after she went to the local police station in mid-June if she had withdrawn the complaint – and picked up a knife and stabbed her when she told him she had not had the time.

She was taken to the hospital, and he was arrested and put in preventive detention. But since he is only being tried for battery or attempted murder, he could be released on bail.

Lopez has good reasons to be scared. According to official figures, of the 91 women killed by their husbands so far this year in Spain – one every four days – 89 had filed reports of domestic abuse against those who ended up killing them.

Women’s and human rights groups in Spain are pushing for the adoption of measures that would afford such women effective protection, so they do not end up like Belen Rivas.

Rivas, age 25, had filed 24 complaints against her husband for abusing her and her children, before he killed her in early September. According to the courts, her spouse had no criminal record, because each report was treated separately as a misdemeanour rather than as a more serious crime.

Ana Belen Barroso, who also lives in a satellite city of Madrid, at least escaped with her life. But although she reported her husband 15 times and publicly asked for help, even on a popular TV programme, she was stabbed after her husband waited for her on Sep. 23 when she went to pick up her kids at school. In this case, the judge waived bail.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) throughout Spain are pushing for effective enforcement of existing laws by judges and prosecutors, legislative reforms where needed, the provision of shelter and protection for victims, and educational efforts, through the mass media for example, to raise awareness on the criminal nature of domestic abuse.

The government has submitted a draft law to reform the penal code. The new code would provide for a restraint order prohibiting aggressors from coming near their victims until sentencing. It would also toughen sanctions for those found guilty of domestic abuse, and would allow prosecutors to initiate legal proceedings, even if the victim has not filed charges.

The attorney-general’s office is also preparing to assign 50 prosecutors nationwide this month to prevent those reported for domestic abuse from repeating.

People’s Defender Fernando Alvarez de Miranda is also seeking reforms of the civil code, including automatic divorce in cases of domestic abuse, to waive the timeframes normally applied in divorce cases.

The Association of Prosecutors sees the assignation of 50 of their rank to crack down on domestic abuse as a positive step. But they argue that the courts cannot provide the solution, because under the existing legislation the majority of cases of domestic abuse are classified as misdemeanours, and the perpetrators are never even brought to trial.

Chief prosecutor Angeles Garcia also doubts that the cases should go through the penal system. He commented to the Spanish daily ‘El Pais’ that “women turn to the office of the prosecutor to try to get their husbands to stop drinking or to love them.”

But women’s and human rights groups maintain that one of the biggest problems is impunity.

One woman lawyer said the soft sanctions, fines of 100 or 200 dollars, led one husband to warn his wife that “as soon as I am paid my bonus I’ll give you a double ‘ration’.”