“Except for physical abuse, practically any crime in the field of gender violence can be committed through new technologies.” The Vigo lawyer Brais González Barros These words show a reality that the daily activity in the Vigo courts attests to in good faith. And is that the use of messaging applications such as WhatsApp and social networks such as Facebook or Instagram to perpetrate violence against women has skyrocketed. Along with the increasingly frequent cases of harassment through the incessant sending of wasaps To the victims, the messages that are sent through these applications can also constitute crimes of threats, coercion or insults, to give just a few examples. And also of breaking the so frequent restraining orders and prohibition of communication that judges agree to protect women. When there is a protection order involved, a simple message with a “hello” or making a call even if it is not answered is already, the lawyers warn, constitutive of an illicit criminal sentence punishable by up to one year in prison.
“Almost any crime, except physical abuse, can be committed with new technologies”
The use of messaging applications or social networks by abusers is seen in many of the cases that reach the Vigo specialized court in the matter. And in those who are later raised for trial in the three criminal courts. “There is an increase in this type of behavior,” says the lawyer Marta Garcia Ozores. In both young and old people. “Now almost everyone has WhatsApp on their mobile phone,” adds this lawyer. Regarding one of the crimes that are most frequently committed in this way, the violation of the victim’s protection order, he explains that the magistrates increasingly “specify” in their files or sentences that the accused or convicted person, along with not being able to approach the woman, her home or her workplace, nor can she communicate with her “by any means of communication.” “And that covers everything,” he warns, including any type of contact through telephone messages or the Internet.
“There can be no communication by any means; the judges already specify it “
In this type of violation the lawyer also stops Ana Garcia Costas. If the accused is legally prohibited from contacting the victim, he cannot send him a single message. “The crime is committed in the same way by sending her a text in which you insult her or by sending another in which, for example, she says” I love you, “she explains. Moreover, she continues, a missed call or a wasap that is not even opened by the woman is also criminal. “What the protection measure seeks is that the victim’s tranquility is not broken; and seeing a call from her abuser on the phone already breaks that tranquility”, specifies the jurist from Vigo.
Provocation
This lawyer is on duty on gender violence, both to assist victims and defendants. In the case of them, what he always recommends in relation to the communications that may reach them from their ex-partners via messaging applications or social networks, is that they never answer. “It is very important that they do not enter into the provocation that the other person is looking for; that it is clearly seen, in order to take the case to court, that communication is in one direction only, ”says Ana García.
There are abusers who use Telegram as it allows destroying messages
–
When it comes to defending those accused of mistreatment who are imposed these orders, the lawyer emphasizes that they do not attempt any type of contact. “These violations sometimes occur because it is not well explained that the prohibition of communication includes, for example, social networks or doing it through third parties; that is why it is something I insist on, even advising that they block contact with their ex-partner ”, he concludes.
Excuses are not worth
“A simple ‘hello’ or a missed call is already broken,” warn the lawyers
And it is that, sent the message, excuses are worth nothing. “A client of mine was convicted of sending a ‘hello’ to his ex-wife; the sentence was appealed alleging that it had been in error, but the ruling was confirmed “, illustrates by way of example the lawyer Josefina Barros. His son, Brais González Barros, is also a lawyer. He has training in new technologies. “Social networks changed our lives,” says the lawyer. And, he warns, a large part of the criminal behaviors that are committed in real life can be transferred to virtual life. The criminals, in this case the abusers, are also perfecting themselves to try to go unpunished: “Now, instead of WhatsApp, there are those who use Telegram to send messages to the victims; they do it because that application has an option for the text to self-destruct in just a few seconds, with which the victim is left without proof that they are insulting or harassing her ”.
In cases like this, this lawyer sends a clear message to women who suffer from these harassing behaviors. If they receive messages on networks that allow them to disappear for seconds, “the ideal” is to activate the option to record the screen before opening the text, so that the evidence of the crime will always remain. “The victim must bear the proof; that there is reliable testimony of the calls and messages they receive ”, concludes Brais González.
Trials in which new technologies are the protagonists in the field of gender violence are already part of the judicial day-to-day. Last week, for example, there were three views on breaches through the use of WhatsApp. Below, several sentences and letters from the Public Prosecutor’s Office highlighted in Vigo on this matter.
A harassment through the “like” to the photos of his ex.
A striking case was that of a man from Vigo sentenced to 5 months in prison for breaking the distance and the prohibition of communication with his ex by liking photos of the victim’s Facebook, as well as sending him messages through this social network and through WhatsApp. The sentence is from 2018 and, something usual, the convict was a repeat offender.
Harassment that materialized with 500 messages every day.
In recent years there have been quite a few hearings against stalkers who used messaging networks to give no respite to their victims. One of these sentences went to a man who accepted 6 months in jail for harassing his former partner with up to 500 messages a day. She blocked him on WhatsApp and the siege continued with SMS and e-mails.
Some wasaps on the mobile phone of the minor son.
This month a case came to trial in which the abuser breached the prohibition of communicating with his ex in various ways. First, sending him 120 wasaps in two days. She blocked it and then he used the phone of their youngest son to continue writing to her. He even did it in the “concept” section of a bank statement that he sent to the victim: “I just want to fix things.”
A video call that was never answered.
Another recent case is that of an accused of mistreating his ex-wife who violated the protection order by making a video call. She didn’t get to pick up. The prosecutor asked for a sentence of one year in jail.
–
– .
