A group of groups specialized in helping victims of sects went to the Congress of Deputies this Thursday with a very clear objective: to ask the deputies to use all legal means so that “no one can be manipulated” free of charge in exchange for a benefit of any kind. To this end, they have delivered 300,000 signatures collected in different campaigns demanding a change in the Penal Code so that “coercive persuasion” or “the abuse of weakness”, which has also been called brainwashing, are considered. crimes and carry a prison sentence of up to eight years. The signatures, collected through the Change.org platform, have been delivered in the Lower House and the representatives of these associations have symbolized their delivery by posing in front of the lions of Congress.
“We have not focused this initiative on something sectarian at all because the panorama has changed drastically,” explains Juanxto Domínguez, president of the Network for the Prevention of Sectarianism and the Abuse of Weakness (RedUNE), which has promoted the initiative. And in the current horizon, in which we no longer only talk about religiosity, but also about personal fulfillment, success or healing, the prominence of social networks, he assures, is immense. “For each situation of vulnerability, there is a new group of coercion and from there they hunt you like a duck,” summarizes Domínguez.
These hooks manage to attract people who, at a time of vital need or a health problem, obtain the promise that their cancer will be cured, for example. Also to people who have personal and family problems and embark on pseudotherapies such as family constellations, adds Domínguez. Cristina, who asks not to be identified by her real name, says that she has not had contact with her adult daughter for two and a half years, and that she was captured in the middle of a life crisis through of the internet for a coach who promised to cure his internal discomfort. According to her story, her daughter cut off all communication with her surroundings and dedicated herself to recommending this supposed therapist to other people. He knows nothing about her and trusts that the investigators, to whom he has reported her case, can demonstrate the trap her daughter fell into and demand punishment for the person responsible for her.
The RedUNE initiative tries to make all political parties aware of this phenomenon so that Spain does not lag behind in the protection of its citizens compared to other countries, such as France, Belgium or Luxembourg, where coercive or persuasion is specifically punished. the abuse of weakness in any type of social relationship. “When someone places a mental problem or a problem of vulnerability on someone who is not an expert in anything, nor is he a psychologist, the maximum responsibility is not on that person, who freely believes that there is some truth, but rather the problem is in the institutions that have not put a stop to this issue,” claims the president of RedUNE.
There are thousands of victims who report abuse by people or groups taking advantage of their trust or authority, however, the majority are filed or do not go to trial, among other things because the family or those affected do not find legal protection, they explain in RedUNE. . The legal reform proposal presented this Thursday has been drafted by lawyer Carlos Bardavío, specialized in sects. The lawyer, who completed his doctoral thesis on sects in Criminal Law, explains that many victims do not report because they are discouraged, in part, due to the difficulty that exists for judges to punish what has happened to them. “They come very touched, without resources,” he adds. Furthermore, the cases are usually very complex. “It is not that there is no defined type of crime, but that the terms are ambiguous, and it is difficult to apply it to something so specific. Judges seek legal certainty, but they are reluctant to include coercive persuasion, for example, in a crime of coercion, because it does not say so clearly,” details the jurist.
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Just three months ago, the courts handed down a ruling recognizing for the first time that the personalities of the victims of a false spiritual leader, known as Lama Losel, had been altered. Bardavío, who represented the victims, emphasizes the generosity they had to reach an agreement of six months in prison so that there would be a pioneering sentence, after 30 years, that recognizes the control of personality.
Alberto Aguilar – father of Patricia Aguilar, the young woman from Alicante captured in 2017 by a guru through the internet and who was released a year later in the jungle of Peru – has supported the initiative, since 212,000 of the signatures presented come from the petition that his family made in 2018 for legislation against sects. “If there is no classification of this coercive pressure, you cannot remove the victim from where she is, or at least investigate,” he explains, comparing it to the situation of her daughter, who left home when she was already He was of age. In the case of Patricia, the detainee was convicted of human trafficking. “In the end the guru makes a mistake that causes him to be executed, but we have to wait,” he adds. “What we experienced was brutal. The stars aligned and in the end it went well,” he explains with perspective on your case. “In some way what I want now is to give back to society the support he gave us,” he adds.
Along with him, representatives from other groups have attended, such as the Association of Victims of Santería or the Spanish Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses (AEVTJ). Victoria Vélez, president of the first association, has stressed the need for minors to also be protected in these situations. In her case, she has two nieces against whom justice cannot act. “There is always talk about scams, which is what is understood,” she says, to make it clear that there are more victims who are not talked about. Israel Flórez and Enrique Carmona, president and secretary of AEVTJ, also highlight the need for legislation to protect those who decide to leave these groups and to be able to report that they have been deceived.
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