Prison for two soldiers who planned rape via WhatsApp

Two students from a military school have been sentenced to six months in prison following messages of a sexual nature about a classmate in a WhatsApp group.

The Supreme Court has confirmed the two students from a military school wrote offensive messages about a classmate in a WhatsApp group of around 40 people, called ‘Fox’, proposing raping “in a herd plan”.

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by one of the convicted men, considering it “obvious” that the messages of both students were serious “given the contempt, disgrace, offence and public discredit that they carry”.

The judges of the Military Chamber of the Supreme said the messages were “very serious” and “lewd” expressions in the group chat and also highlighted their “intrinsic brutality, and even cruelty.”

Convicted under the Military Penal Code, the two men who were students of the San Fernando training centre in Cadiz were convicted of crimes against fundamental rights and public freedoms, in the modality of carrying out acts of sexual harassment, insulting and undermining the personal dignity against another military person.

As reported by 20 Minutos, the victim, a young woman, had been a part of the group chat but left when she saw that her companions had begun sending messages of a sexual nature and pornographic content. A member of the group had informed her of several screenshots in which the two convicted had sent messages to “rape her like a herd” and a manipulated photo of her.

The Supreme Court highlighted how the convicted had attacked the victim’s moral integrity and “subject her to a lascivious scrutiny by the members of the group”, “objectifying her as a person” and subjecting her to humiliation that publicly attacked her dignity.

The magistrates do not doubt the seriousness of the messages, since the sentences analysed “exceed any limit of socially acceptable normality” and propose acts that “if carried out, would constitute a crime”.

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