Gender-based and domestic violence in Spain according to the Spanish Criminal Code- LIUZZI e LIUZZI International Law Firm - LIUZZI e LIUZZI International law & Tax Firm (Italian law, Spanish Law, European Union law, International Law)

The Spanish Criminal Code provides that anyone who causes by any means or procedure severe mental or physical handicaps without need of chirurgical or medical treatment or that beats or abuses a person through action or omission without causing an injury and this person is somebody with whom he has a relationship now or has had in the past a sentimental relationship being her wife or a woman with a past or present relationship even without living together or if that person is somebody especially vulnerable and is living with the author of the crime he will be punished with:

- Prison from six months to one year or to do community services from thirty-one to eighty days and in any case also punished with the prohibition from one year to three years of carrying guns.

- The author of the crime can also be condemned to disqualification for a period that can last five years for what it concerns parental responsibility, guardianship, curatorship, trusteeship, custody if the judge or the Court considers that this measure is appropriate for the minor or the person with handicaps and in need of special protection.

It is often difficult to individuate what can be considered “a severe mental handicap” caused by some kind of psychological violence: jurisprudence found that it can be individuated when the damn on wealthness and emotional equilibrium of the victim (with for instance consequent loose of self-esteem or mental disorder etc.) is due to pshycological violence understood us the action or the omission that the author of the crime has done with malicious intent but without physical aggression.

The Spanish Criminal Code states furthermore that if the victim of a crime of gender-based and domestic violence in Spain is:

- a descendent, an ascendant or a brother (also by adoption or affinity) of the author of the crime or of the husband or a marriage-like relationship ;
- a minor or a disable person who cohabits with the author of the crime or who is under parental responsability, guardianship, curatorship, trusteeship, custody of somebody who is spouse or partner of the author of the crime;
- person of the same fmily group with whom cohabits with some other kind of relationship;
- person in need of special protection and for this reason under custody in a private or public institution

- prison from six months to one year or to do community services from thirty-one to eighty days and in any case also punished with the prohibition from one year and one day to three years of carrying guns. And also to disqualification for a period that can last from six months to three years for what it concerns parental responsibility, guardianship, curatorship, trusteeship, custody if the judge or the Court considers that this measure is appropriate for the minor or the person with handicaps and in need of special protection.
If the crime has been committed in front of minors or by using guns or at the residence home where the author cohabits with the victim or the one of the victim or by violating any of the dispositions of art. 48 of the Spanish Criminal Code or precautionary measure or measure of security of the same kind punishments are those specified in art. 153 (see above) and will be increased by one half.

The previous analysis shows that the Spanish Criminal Code has the aim of protecting in a special manner victims of those kind of violence realized by men against women or other cohabiting people (as seen before) in a relationship with the victim where the man plays a dominant role.

These norms give a higher protection to those women who are victims or genre-based violence and domestic violence but do not consider relationships between individuals of the same sex nor the cases of women against men.

If a woman for instance beats a man punishment is provided by the Spanish Criminal Code according to what is disposed for criminal actions committed by women without any additional punishment, contrary to what has been by the Legislator for genre-based and domestic violence as it has been explained in this analysis.

Updated in June, 2016

Written by Viviana Fiorella Liuzzi – Lawyer at the bar of Rome, Italy and at the Bar of Alcalá de Henares in Spain.

Liuzzi e Liuzzi International Law Firm has a wide experience in judicial proceedings in criminal cases of gender-based and domestic violence in Spain, assistying not only the victims but also men who have been charged with this kind of crime.

If a man has been charged in Spain with a gender-based or domestic violence crime, due to the special spanish legislation on genre-based and domestic violence, the uncertainty of application and the harshness of punishment it is really important to be assisted by expert lawyers with years of experience on genre-based and domestic violence cases in Spain (and in Italy) and this professionality and experience is what Liuzzi e Liuzzi Spanish and International law firm clients really appreciate.  

Many of Liuzzi e Liuzzi International law firm contact the firm to be urgently assisted after being suddenly imprisoned in Spain and after a short time they have come back home, often they are foreign citizens. Many of them have thought for a while of have had a terrible “nightmare” just an awful souvenir. But it is not just that at all. And this important charge cannot be considered something without consequences.

Some other clients reach Liuzzi e Liuzzi law firm without having a complete idea of what the charge is really about, many of them have told us of not having been assisted in their mother tongue and consequently they have not understood what really was going on.

Other clients contact Liuzzi e Liuzzi law firm after having received a notification from the Spanish Court about a criminal proceeding that those clients believed it was “closed” and “left behind” when they left Spain (if they were living abroad or of foreign nationalities), sometimes because the left the Country with the idea of having obtained a “suspended sentence” with no other obligation to fulfil according to Spanish law. In many cases of non-compliance this behaviour may lead to the loss of chance of the suspended sentence.  

The judicial and extrajudicial legal assistance and consulting given by Liuzzi e Liuzzi International law firm is provided to International clients in English, Spanish, Italian, French or German. It is really important to understand as a defendant what is one's own judicial situation what the court, the plaintiff, witnesses state, what sort of evidence they are submitting etc.  

Clients won't need interpreters to be updated step by step by Liuzzi e Liuzzi law firm about their situation.

Liuzzi e Liuzzi professionals are multilingual with years of experience in Spain, in Italy and in any International legal matter.

Foreign citizens who have been charged in Spain with a crime (for instance of a gender-based or domestic violence one) can contact Liuzzi e Liuzzi law firm 365 days a year 24h/24.  

Call or write an email to Liuzzi e Liuzzi Spanish and International law firm (pay attention to check your antispam folder if you are waiting for a reply from the firm Liuzzi e Liuzzi because sometimes mails can be found there).

Advice is given even by videoconference if the client is living abroad and do not wish to travel to Spain/ Italy.

A very important aim of the firm Liuzzi e Liuzzi is to assist its clients assuring them complete confidentiality, this can also mean to agree for example to rceive contacts from the firm only at certain hours or days or only at specific emails, telephone numbers, fax.