MADRID: One of five men convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman at a Spanish festival was caught seeking a new passport days after handing his documents over as a condition for his provisional release from jail, police said on Thursday.
The five, who joked about the 2016 attack in a Whatsapp group called “The Wolf Pack”, were cleared of rape at the bull- running festival in the northern city of Pamplona.
Instead they were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse, stoking fierce national debate and demonstrations over the country’s treatment of sex crimes.
They were freed on bail last week after almost two years in jail, prompting more protests in several cities.
“A member of #TheWolfPack caught trying to get a passport … while a ban on leaving Spanish soil has been imposed by a court,” national police wrote on Twitter above an image of cartoon law enforcer Batman shaking his head and wagging his finger.
Explaining their decision for the conditional release, judges in the northern region of Navarra said the risk of the five men trying to flee could be contained by less harsh measures, including reporting to police three times a week and relinquishing their passports.