BarcelonaLast year, seventeen women across the country were reported for allegedly filing false complaints in cases of gender-based violence. Only one case resulted in a conviction for the complainant. This represents just 0.0005% of the 199,094 victims who went to the courts specializing in violence against women. Data from the Public Prosecutor's Office, throughout its historical series – since 2009 – shows that cases of false complaints in cases of gender-based violence are statistically insignificant, a fraction of the total number of cases. Nevertheless, the myth surrounding this phenomenon often continues to be used as a weapon against victims.
"It's a myth with a specific purpose. There's an attack against feminism and a rebound effect from sectors that have an interest in maintaining the patriarchal system as we know it, who are denying the existence of gender-based violence, and often resort to discrediting it," says lawyer Ana Nahxeli (Advocas). "If someone reports a robbery, no one will think they're making it up. That patriarchal doubt won't arise from the start," she adds.
Criminal lawyer Olga Arderiu agrees, criticizing the fact that the myth of false accusations "is used extensively to attack women," even as an argument in legal proceedings. "They'll say she's making it up to manipulate the divorce proceedings, to hurt her or get revenge, or for whatever reason. It's part of the defense's argument, but it's also widespread in media appearances, training sessions, conferences, and presentations, and it's not true," she adds.
Judge Carlos Pascual Alfaro, head of the Court for Violence Against Women No. 1 in Barcelona, states that there are lawyers who defend aggressors by appealing to the supposed falsity of the accusation. "The myth persists, and sometimes they invoke it in court; it happens quite frequently. It's usually used as a rather empty argument," he explains. However, he adds that the main problem isn't false accusations, "but rather that it goes unreported." "Eighty percent of women who suffer violence don't report it," the judge clarifies.
Acquittals and withdrawn accusations
Both Pascual and Arderiu emphasize that a case ending in acquittal due to lack of evidence does not mean the complainant fabricated the events. Nahxeli adds that the difficulty of proving crimes committed in private, coupled with the "stereotype of the lying woman" or one who files a complaint for personal gain, creates the "perfect storm." Nor does it imply that the complaint was false if the woman withdraws the accusation at some point in the proceedings, as 36 women did last year. "Often, fear prevails; perhaps you feel sorry for the other party because they are someone you've been emotionally involved with for a long time, maybe you share children... The reasons for withdrawing can be numerous and generally have nothing to do with having lied," Arderiu summarizes.
In fact, the State Attorney General's Office points out in its latest annual report that, due to emotional dependence on the aggressor or fear of them, many victims end up blaming themselves for the assaults, minimizing them, or saying they don't remember them to avoid recounting them. This is especially true since 2021, when the option for complainants to invoke the right to be excused from testifying in a trial against a family member or partner was removed, as is offered to other witnesses if they have already testified during the preliminary investigation.
"Before, if they invoked the right to be excused, they didn't testify, and that was a problem because often there is no evidence other than the complainant's statement," explains Arderiu. The legal expert believes that now, despite the obligation to testify, "they still have the emotional connection or the fear, and that's when they try to qualify their statements or say they don't remember."
The Public Prosecutor's Office also confirms this in its report: the obligation to testify has reduced to zero the number of complaints withdrawn because the victim invokes their right not to testify, but it has created situations in which the woman, forced to do so, tries not to harm the aggressor with imprecise answers. Lawyer Ana Nahxeli notes that "it's logical that women sometimes go through different phases during the legal proceedings" and points out that this doesn't necessarily mean the complaint is false. "It has to do with the very dynamics of violence within a relationship," she explains. Judge Carlos Pascual has encountered several cases where complainants end up mythologizing the events, and when there are other witnesses who testify, there can still be evidence to convict the aggressor. "Unfortunately, many times it happens at home and without witnesses," he concludes.
More than 14,000 reports of gender-based violence this year
So far this year, up to October 31, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have processed 14,455 reports related to gender-based violence. With these figures, the police expect to end the year with a similar number of cases to last year (17,160).
As in previous years, the most frequent offense (37%) is domestic abuse, followed by threats (20.2%). Thirdly, 17% of the reports filed with the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) are for breaches of court orders, that is, for violating court-ordered protection measures such as restraining orders. Finally, 7.2% of reports correspond to habitual physical or psychological violence within the family.
