A police officer who kissed a detained woman, despite her refusal, was sentenced to more than a year in prison, according to new Spanish law. And the Supreme Court confirmed it: a non-consensual kiss is sexual abuse.
Kissing someone without consent is a “bodily invasion” and an “intrusion on the sexual freedom” of the victim. This was the decision, this Tuesday, of the Spanish Supreme Court, which confirms the ruling of a lower court that had convicted a police officer for kissing a woman without her consent.
The case occurred in January 2020, when A police officer kissed a woman on the cheek while she was detained at the police station of the Prado de San Sebastián, in Seville. The agent also wrote some papers, which he passed to her wife, asking her to hug her. Despite her verbal refusals and moving away from her, the police officer still tried to kiss the woman on her lips, according to the newspaper El País.
The woman filed a complaint and the Seville court sentenced the police officer to one year and nine months in prison. Now, the highest Spanish court has confirmed the original sentence: crime of sexual abuse.
The Supreme Court judges justify the decision by saying that sexual abuse is not the existence of a ‘no’, but the absence of a ‘yes’. “The key is consent, since if consent was not obtained, sexual abuse would occur,” reads the sentence, cited by the Spanish newspaper.
The sentence for sexual abuse has existed, in Spanish law, since 2022, when Congress approved the Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, known as the “only yes means yes” law. The diploma, one of the most avant-garde in Europe, ended the distinction between abuse and rape, condemning both equally.
“Only yes is yes.” The Spanish Congress approves a law that ends the distinction between abuse and rape
The Supreme Court’s decision stands out, therefore, for define a kiss on the cheek as unwanted sexual contact. In the ruling, the judges maintain that “it is evident that the brief contact of a non-consensual kiss represents a bodily invasion.” [da vítima], who is not obliged to admit acts of sexual content on her body, such as a kiss on the face.” The sexual connotation of the kiss “is undeniable, even if it is brief.”
The court gives more details, arguing that it is necessary to consider the context in which the crime took place. The sentence highlights how the woman was detained “in a hostile environment, with an unknown person,” illustrating the power imbalance between victim and aggressor.
Considering “Modern jurisprudence” and the “circumstances of the case”The Supreme Court “clearly” identifies the crime: the kiss, which can be seen, when desired, as “proof of affection”, was used by the police “as a personal attack”, in the face of the victim’s verbal and physical refusals .
Source: Observadora
