Madrid, November 5 (RHC)-- In Spain, thousands of protesters took to the streets after a Barcelona court decided to convict five men accused of gang-raping an unconscious 14-year-old girl of the lesser charge of sexual abuse and sentenced them to 10 to 12 years in prison.

The sentencing came after the judges ruled that because the adolescent girl was unconscious and under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, the men did not have to use physical violence or intimidation, which are requirements under Spanish law for a crime to be considered rape or sexual assault. 

One of the protest organizers said: "It’s clear they have to change either the judges or the law, or both.  I assume both, because if a 14-year-old girl is unconscious because she drank or for any other reason, it doesn’t matter, and she is raped by five people or four, because one is masturbating, to put it bluntly, and there are judges who say that that is abuse, I find that incredible.”

The sentencing came after the judges ruled that because the adolescent girl was unconscious and under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, the men did not have to use physical violence or intimidation, which are requirements under Spanish law for a crime to be considered rape or sexual assault. 

One of the protest organizers said: "It’s clear they have to change either the judges or the law, or both.  I assume both, because if a 14-year-old girl is unconscious because she drank or for any other reason, it doesn’t matter, and she is raped by five people or four, because one is masturbating, to put it bluntly, and there are judges who say that that is abuse, I find that incredible.”