Spanish prosecutors report negligible false allegations and rising repeat offenders in gender-based violence review

In another case highlighted by state prosecutors, a provincial court quashed an acquittal and ordered a full retrial simply because the defendant's final statement could not be heard on the hearing recording.

These legal proceedings caught the attention of public prosecutors last year in an annual report examining institutional responses alongside the behaviours of victims and perpetrators. During the year analysed, 50 women were murdered and 21 men were convicted of attempted murder against a partner or ex-partner.

Considering that one in four perpetrators was a repeat offender and one in five women was murdered despite having previously reported their abuser, the prosecution released the in-depth report to "help people understand what is happening, why it is happening and what can be done to prevent it".

The report highlighted a critical lack of protection for women who report abuse. One in 10 murdered women had filed a formal complaint but received no protective measures, either because authorities failed to establish "objective grounds" for protection or because the victim withdrew the complaint.

In six cases where victims filed complaints, the abuser was convicted and issued a restraining order which was then not enforced, resulting in the victim's murder. Non-enforcement occurred in two cases where the victim resumed the relationship under pressure, two cases where the victim invoked their right not to give evidence, and one case where the victim visited the perpetrator's home.

While the number of dropped charges fell compared with the previous year, some victims told courts they "could not remember anything" or that "it was a lie", putting themselves at risk of false accusation charges.

However, prosecutors stressed that false allegations remain virtually non-existent, averaging 0.007 per cent between 2009 and 2025. Prosecutors noted that reluctance or evasive answers during trial questioning often stem from an "underlying fear of the perpetrator, pressure from those around them or emotional dependence", reinforcing the need for "non-revictimising" interview methods.

Repeat offending represents a major concern for prosecutors, with abusers exhibiting a pattern of violence that continues across different partners over time.

"Of the 50 alleged perpetrators of femicide, 14 had a history of gender-based violence with other partners or ex-partners, representing 28% of the total number of cases," the report noted. This marks a sharp rise from 14 per cent in the previous year and 11.6 per cent in 2023.

Bladed weapons were used in 26 murders (52 per cent), followed by physical beatings in 10 cases (20 per cent), suffocation or strangulation in nine cases (18 per cent), arson in two cases (four per cent) and firearms in one case (two per cent). Seven perpetrators committed suicide after the murders, while the remaining 43 were arrested.

The public prosecution cited major shortcomings in state forensic assessment units, pointing to "staff shortages, delays in issuing reports, the absence of on-call teams for urgent assessments, the increasing outsourcing of the service" and an absence of permanent units.

Courts rejected more than 10,000 requests for preventive protective measures last year, though electronic monitoring tags were fitted in over 2,000 high-risk cases. Overall reports of violence against women rose by 2.6 per cent, alongside a continuous rise in sexual freedom offences against minors and breaches of court-ordered measures.

Occasional abuse remains the most common convicted offence, accounting for a third of all cases, followed by breaches of protective orders or sentences (23 per cent), threats (7.7 per cent) and habitual abuse (six per cent).

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