Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apologized in an interview published on Easter Sunday to victims of sexual assault over a sexual assault law that contained a loophole. This allowed nearly 1,000 imprisoned offenders to have their sentences commuted or vacated.

The law calledOnly yes means yeswhich arose in part from public outrage over the so-called “Wolf Pack” case, which focused on consent and aimed at settling cases in which the defendants were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual assault because the victims did not fight back out of fear.

But because the new law provides for a lower minimum sentence — a confluence of sexual offenses and assault — it has allowed some offenders convicted before it went into effect to get reduced sentences or early release.

Since the law was passed in October, as of March 31, sentences have been commuted in 978 cases, the General Judicial Council, the highest body of judges, said last week.

“Some of these decisions or rulings are not final, they are still subject to appeal. But in any case, there was an undesirable outcome that we must resolve,” Mr. Sanchez said in an interview with El Correo newspaper. “If we have to apologize to the victims, I apologize to the victims.”

The issue has divided a three-year coalition: the Socialists seek to reform the law, but their ruling partners, the left-wing party Unidas Podemos, oppose their proposals.

Combatting gender-based violence has been high on the coalition’s agenda since the Wolf Pack case, in which five men named by that name were jailed for a lesser offense of sexual assault in 2018 after gang-raping a young woman during a festival . bullfight in Pamplona in 2016.

Source: Reuters.