The Government delegate in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, has specified that from January to September 2023, a total of 620 complaints of male violence were filed in La Rioja, which means 43 more complaints regarding the same period in 2022.
In this week that coincides with the celebration next Saturday of 25N, the delegate together with the head of the Coordination Unit against Violence on Women, Cristina Peña Sánchez, have presented this morning the balance with the statistical data corresponding to the first three quarters of 2023 on violence against women.
According to data from the State Security Forces and Corps, 335 of the complaints were filed with the Civil Guard and 285 were filed with the Superior Police Headquarters. These data include new reports of repeated episodes and breaches of measures.
For her part, the delegate of the Government has denounced that in July this year there was a case of a mortal victim for gender violence in La Rioja, a 35-year-old woman allegedly murdered by her partner. The victim had three minor children and there were no previous reports of gender-based violence against the alleged aggressor.
So far this year, 52 women have been killed by their partners or former partners according to official data.
Arraiz Nalda commented that several important aspects were discussed at the last Sectoral Conference on Equality. The first of these, the importance of the victim's environment, which is key in the support of women.
In this regard, the delegate has insisted that the denunciation is fundamental for the implementation of the process of protection and assistance to women victims of gender violence. “The silence of the victim is a risk factor for the lives of battered women, so it is extremely important to make them, and also society as a whole, aware of the need to report.”
She has stressed that it is essential to inform the whole society about what violence is and how it manifests itself on women so that anyone can detect and accompany the victim.
For the delegate of the Government, “unity in the face of the most serious manifestation of machismo such as gender violence is a priority for our country because denying it or being complicit in that denial, strengthens the aggressors, discourages the victims and slows down the progress towards equality between women and men”
Therefore, “in the face of negationism, awareness, awareness and prevention are a priority,” he added. To those who deny gender violence, Arraiz Nalda recalled that in these first nine months of the year, one woman has been murdered and five others have suffered serious injuries in La Rioja, “data that are real and that cannot take us back as a society”.
In addition, from the data collected in the statistics on male violence prepared by the Unit for Coordination against Violence against Women in La Rioja, he wanted to highlight the 45 complaints filed by women under 20 years of age, 12 of them minors. “This data reaffirms the need to focus and insist on education in egalitarian values and against male violence,” he insisted.
For her part, the head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women, Cristina Peña Sánchez, has specified the data referring to the first nine months of 2023 that have been registered in La Rioja.
As of November 19, 2023, the cases with active police follow-up are 680; 199 with unappreciated risk (29%) 269 with low risk (39.5%) 200 medium risk (29.4%), 11 with high risk and 1 extreme risk.
Of the cases assessed as male violence, and therefore those that comply with Law 1/2004 on which VioGén is based, 203 situations were considered of special relevance, 66 minors were in a vulnerable situation and 29 minors at risk.
In total, there are 156 aggressors with more than one victim, constituting almost 30% of the cases reported.
Age of victim and aggressor
The age group with the most victims is between 21 and 50 years, which accounts for 81.1% of the complaints filed, with 503 of the 620 recorded in the first nine months of the year.
With regard to the age of the aggressor, 20 complaints were filed with men under 20 years of age, four of them against persons under 18 years of age.
Again this year, the age range of aggressors between 31 and 40 years constitutes the highest percentage (32.1% with 199 complaints), followed by aggressors between 41 and 50 years (26.8% with 166 complaints) and between 21 and 30 years (20% with 124 complaints).
Relationship type
Unlike previous years, in which the most frequent type of victim/aggressor relationship in complaints of violence against women was affective exrelation, in 2023 this type of relationship is equated with affective: 35.3 (219 complaints) and 35.2 (218 complaints), respectively.
In addition, with respect to the same period of 2022, there was an increase of 0.9% in the cases produced within the framework of relationships in which the author is the spouse (21.8% with 135 complaints) and 1% in the case of being a former spouse (6.3% with 39 complaints).
Type of complaint and injuries
62.6% of women reported physical abuse: 55.7% for the first time and 44.3% for habitual abuse.
It should be noted that criminal acts reported as physical abuse are usually accompanied by offences against liberty, amounting to 41.8 per cent. Of these, 59.8% for threats and 39% for coercion. Complaints of psychological abuse accounted for 34.8%.
Of the physical abuse reported by women, 306 were without injuries, 207 with serious injuries and 5 with serious injuries. In 102 cases, the type of injuries is not known.
Nationality of victims and aggressors
Of the total number of complaints of male violence in La Rioja from January to September 2023, 345 corresponded to women of Spanish nationality, 55.6%, while 272, 43.9%, corresponded to foreign women.
Regarding the nationality of the aggressors, 56.5% were Spanish men (350) and 43.2% foreigners (268).
Request for Protection Order and arrest of the aggressor
A 46.3% (287) of victims of male violence requested a protection order during this period, with a slight decrease of 1.4 points from January to September 2022.
In addition, there has been the arrest of the aggressor in 84.8% of the reported cases, a figure similar to the same period of 2022, which was 84.1%.
On the other hand, in 76.6 per cent of cases, a speedy trial has been held. There is a decrease, since in the first three quarters of 2022, rapid trials were held in 81.5% of cases.
From January to September 2023 there were 129 breakdowns - 58 at the level of the National Police Force and 71 at the level of the Civil Guard - 11 less than in 2022.