Due to a possible gang rape, the Spanish police in Mallorca have handed over six holidaymakers from Germany to the judiciary. The young men were handcuffed on Saturday and taken to court number 8 on Avenida Alemania by the police headquarters in Palma de Mallorca.
In order not to be recognized, they had pulled their shirts over their heads. In court, a magistrate must decide whether the police evidence is sufficient to warrant pre-trial detention. In Spain this can take a long time. And rape carries a prison sentence of 12 years.
In the evening, the decision on an arrest warrant against the six holidaymakers from Germany was apparently still pending. The Spanish newspaper “Última Hora” reported that the judge had postponed the hearing because he still wanted to study documents about the case. He ordered the six men returned to police headquarters on Saturday.
The police accuse at least some of them of raping a young German tourist in a hotel room in Ballermann on Thursday night. There was initially no official announcement as to when the court hearing would take place. Under Spanish law, a suspect can be held for up to 72 hours without a court order.
Act filmed with mobile phone
According to the police, the young woman had met a man of about the same age from Germany on Saturday evening at the German party stronghold at Ballermann. She agreed to go with him to his hotel room. However, at the reception she was turned away because she was not a guest there.
The two then went to a nearby hotel, where five of the man’s friends from Germany had also stayed. When they later entered her room, four of them forced the woman into sexual acts. One of the suspects filmed the crime with his mobile phone.
The woman then fled to the bathroom, police said. One of the young Germans admitted to the woman that they had gone too far, calmed her down and persuaded her to go with her to the hotel where friends of hers were staying. From there, the woman alerted the police, who arrested five Germans in their hotel on Thursday morning and a sixth on Friday. The young German was taken to a hospital for examination.
Already in 2016 a gang rape in Pamplona
In the Spanish media, the six men were sometimes referred to as “Manada alemana”, as a “German Pack”.
This drew a parallel with a 2016 gang rape in Pamplona. At the time, five young men had raped and filmed a young woman in a doorway.
An initially very lenient sentence against these men, known as “Manada”, led to demonstrations across the country. As a result, the sex criminal law was changed. However, the new law “Only yes is yes” unexpectedly led to the early release of many sex offenders and plunged the governing coalition into crisis. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
