Mujeres en Igualdad
- 80 women were filmed urinating without their knowledge at a festival in Spain, with the footage uploaded to porn sites.
- A judge has dismissed the case, saying it wasn't a criminal act as it was in public.
- This ruling has sparked protests regarding the safety of women and their rights.
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A Spanish judge has caused fury amongst women's rights groups after dismissing a case of 80 women and girls filmed urinating by hidden cameras. The videos were uploaded to porn sites.
The women were all attending the A Maruxaina festival in Cervo, North-West Spain in 2019.
Many only found out they had fallen victim to this crime after stumbling across the footage and taking legal action in 2020, reported the BBC.
However, the judge presiding, Pablo Muñoz Vázquez, shelved the case, stating that the videos were recorded in a public place and cannot be deemed criminal.
The court documents state that Vázquez said the content hosted "no intention to violate the physical or moral resistance" of the women filmed.
It is despite the videos giving close up views of the women's genitals and faces.
The National President of Women in Equality, Susana Camarero, has asked the Provincial Court of Lugo to review the sentence, according to their website.
"I was just panicking," said Jenniffer, who was one of the women filmed during the local festival in 2019, told the BBC.
She was alerted to the footage by a friend who saw it: "And then when I saw the video I was crying, I was really embarrassed, I didn't really know what to do."
She has said that the ruling to dismiss the case has made her feel "so frustrated": "They are basically saying it is OK if someone records you on the street, and then they post it on a porn site, and they make money from it."
The situation has sparked online and in-person protests, with the Spanish Equalities Minister, Irene Montero, saying that "Taking pictures of a woman without her consent and distributing them is sexual violence."
The hashtag #XustizaMaruxaina (Justice Maruxaina) is being used for online support to be pledged to the women impacted.
Ana García of the Bumei association warns that this case could set a precedent, giving those who make such recordings impunity.
"Just because you're in a public space, that doesn't mean that filming intimate images and then distributing them is not a crime, because this is about fundamental rights," she told the BBC.
Ana García, from Women for Equality Burela, stated that this case could cause a dangerous precedent for the future, with it allowing for the public recording of intimate footage.