More prison for hitting a dog than a woman: the new legal nonsense of the Spanish far-left

@ElentirENG ES 11·22·2022 · 7:01 0

The far-left Spanish party Podemos has not yet emerged from the controversy over the reduction of sentences for rapists and he has already gotten into a new one.

A serious threat against Spanish society and only one party is taking it seriously
A treacherous and corrupt politician who changes the law to benefit his criminal allies

The government did not want to consult the Judiciary for its law on animal abuse

The new controversy has to do with the the Draft Bill to reform the Penal Code, regarding animal abuse (see PDF) presented by the Ministry of Social Rights, headed by Ione Belarra, of the far-left party Podemos, the communist partner of Pedro Sánchez's socialists in the government of Spain. As it has done with other of its ideological laws, the government approved sending it to Congress in August without sending the text to the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to obtain its report on the matter. However, the Council -in a gesture of responsibility- has decided to issue it anyway after knowing the content of the draft. The CGPJ report is expected to be approved this Thursday and yesterday Europa Press offered a preview of it.

More punishment for hitting your dog than your wife

One of the criticisms of the CGPJ in said report is related to the principle of proportionality of sanctions. And it is that in the future law on animal abuse, it is punishable by between 3 and 18 months in jail for injuring "a vertebrate animal" (for example, a dog) (a novelty that this law intends to introduce through a new Article 340 bis in the Penal Code), when that injury "objectively requires veterinary treatment for its health", while Article 153 of the Penal Code contemplates penalties of 6 months to one year prison if a man beats or mistreats his wife or ex-wife, "or a woman who is or has been linked to him by a similar affective relationship even without cohabitation, or a particularly vulnerable person who lives with the perpetrator", if he does not cause her injury.

According to Europa Press, the CGPJ points out that in this case the principle of proportionality may be affected, noting that the prison sentence provided for in the draft bill approved by the government for this case is higher than the which is currently established for the minor offense of coercion, that of minor threats, that of injuries that do not require medical or surgical treatment or that of mistreatment in the field of violence against women.

The same punishment for minor injury to a dog as to a person

Likewise, the CGPJ warns that if the crime of injuries to vertebrate animals is compared that do not require veterinary treatment (point 4 of that new Article 340 bis that introduces the law on animal abuse) with the minor crime of injuring people that does not require medical or surgical treatment (typified by Article 147 of the Penal Code in point 2), the penalty is the same, that is, a fine of one to three months.

The ideological arrogance of Podemos when drawing up laws

We are facing a situation very similar to that generated by the "sexual freedom law", also known as the "only yes is yes law". In both cases, what we find is the arrogance of a political party that believes that its ideology makes it superior to the rest, so it should not ask anyone for advice or listen to anyone's advice when drafting a law included in its political agenda, since all those who make an objection are suspected of being branded as ideological enemies (sexist, homophobic, racist, etc.). This way of approaching criticism is not something new in human history: it is the same attitude exhibited by totalitarian regimes such as communism, towards which many leaders of Podemos show their sympathies.

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Photo: Efe. The Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra (left), together with the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero. Both belong to the far-left Podemos party and are the protagonists of the latest scandals caused by the legal nonsense promoted by that party.