'Only yes means yes': Spain tightens rape law

Spain on Thursday toughened its rape laws, pushing through legislation requiring explicit consent for sex in a move driven by its left-wing government following a notorious gang rape that outraged the country.

Known as the "Only yes means yes" law, the bill was given the green light by parliament with 205 votes in favour and 141 against after passing its first reading by lawmakers in May.

It involves a reform of Spain's criminal code that now defines rape as sex without clear consent.

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"Consent is recognised only when a person has freely demonstrated it through actions which, in the context of the circumstances of the case, clearly express the person's will," it says.

"At last our country legally recognises that consent is what needs to be at the centre of all our relationships," said Equality Minister Irene Montero.

"No woman will ever have to prove that violence or intimidation was involved in order for it to be considered a sexual assault."

Until now, rape victims needed to prove that they had been subjected to violence or intimidation.

The issue was at the heart of the notorious 2016 gang rape of an 18-year-old woman by five men at the bull-running festival in Pamplona, northern Spain.

The men -- who called themselves the "wolf pack" -- were initially convicted of "sexual abuse" and not rape.

Two of the men filmed the assault, during which the woman is shown silent and passive -- a fact the judges interpreted as consent.

Defined by the absence of violence or intimidation, such an offence carried lighter penalties -- but no longer exists in the reformed criminal code.

That initial verdict led to huge nationwide protests demanding reform.

In 2019, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict, convicting all five of rape and increasing their sentences from nine years to 15 years each.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez -- a self-described feminist -- vowed to introduce a law on consent aimed at removing ambiguity in rape cases when he took office in June 2018.