Complaints for alleged sexist violence filed in the judicial bodies of the Canary Islands during the first quarter of 2022 increased by 8% compared to the first quarter of 2021, going from 1,995 to 2,155.
This has been revealed by the data released by the Observatory against Domestic and Gender Violence of the General Council of the Judiciary, which warns that at the national level the courts of violence against women received a total of 41,765 complaints and registered a total of 40,481 women victims, data that reveal a respective increase of 19.33% and 17.85% if compared to those of the first three months of 2021, even under the consequences of the health crisis caused by Covid-19.
Official data indicates that the alleged victims (an alleged victim can file more than one complaint) increased by 7.7% (from 1,993 in the winter of 2021 to 2,147 in the winter of 2022); the resignations of the complainants to testify against their alleged aggressor grew by 38.4% (from 177 in the winter of 2021 to 245 in this year), and the rate of cases per 10,000 women increased from 18.1 complaints between January and March 2021 to 19.5 in the first quarter of 2022, that is, it increased by 7.5%.
Regarding protection orders issued by the judicial authorities of the islands to protect women who reported having been victims of any type of sexist violence, in the first quarter of 2022, 485 were registered, 13% more than in the first quarter of 2021 (426). In addition, three were not admitted, compared to none in the previous period, 350 were adopted compared to 300 in the previous winter (16.7%) and 135 were denied compared to 123 in the previous period (9.8%).
Regarding the forms of termination of the procedures initiated for sexist violence, in 609 of the cases initiated in the islands in the winter of 2022, the litigation ended in a conviction, compared to the 554 that ended in this way in the first quarter of 2021 (an increase, therefore, of 9.9%).
Likewise, there were 52 in acquittal, 30.7% less than in the winter of 2021 (75); 88 in free dismissal, 25.4% less than in the compared period (118), and 728 in provisional dismissal, 2% more (714).
In total, 204 cases were elevated to a higher instance (-11.8%) and 269 ended up through other channels (-14.9%).
Between last January and March, 667 cases came to trial, 6% more than in the first quarter of 2021, with 613 men being convicted, 91.90%.
The rate of complaints per 10,000 women in the Canary Islands was 19.5 during the first quarter of this year, the fifth highest, which implies that the archipelago drops one position on the national scale, since it ended 2021 in fourth place .
At the end of March, it was exceeded by the Balearic Islands (22.8 complaints per 10,000 women), Murcia (22.6), Valencia (22.2) and Andalusia (20.2), all of them above the national average rate, which was 16.7 complaints per 10,000 women.
In the province of Las Palmas, Fuerteventura computed between January and March 105 complaints for alleged crimes of sexist violence: 96 for injuries and mistreatment, three against sexual freedom and indemnity, four for breach of sentences and two for breach of measures.
Gran Canaria registered 986 complaints: two for homicide, 670 for injuries and ill-treatment in different degrees, 82 against freedom, 11 against freedom and sexual indemnity, two against honor, 142 for violation of sentences, 70 for violation of legal measures. and one undetermined and Lanzarote, 108 complaints, of which 80 were for injuries and mistreatment, 13 against freedom, one against freedom and sexual indemnity, three against moral integrity, seven for breach of sentences and four for breach of measures.
With regard to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, during the first quarter of 2022, three complaints were filed on the island of El Hierro for alleged violence against women, three for injuries and ill-treatment, always to a degree of presumption. ; in La Gomera, 12 complaints, five of them for injuries and mistreatment, three for crimes against moral integrity and four for violation of sentences and in La Palma 99 cases were computed: 36 for injuries and mistreatment, one against liberty and sexual indemnity, five against moral integrity, two against honor, one for violation of sentences and 54 for violation of measures.
In Tenerife, for its part, 874 complaints were filed: 625 for different types of injuries and mistreatment, 65 against freedom, one against freedom and sexual indemnity, 24 against moral integrity, three against privacy and the right to own image, 11 against honor, one against family rights and duties, 96 for violation of sentences, 38 for violation of measures and 10 of other unspecified natures.
