Judge Maria del Carmen Molina Mansilla, in the Basque Country in Spain, is the subject of a campaign for investigation following “offensive questioning” of a rape victim.
The Clara Campoamor Association, a feminist group supporting victims of gender crime, is demanding a full investigation into the female magistrate.
The comments were allegedly made when a woman came before her to request a restraining order against her abusers.
According to The Local, Judge Mansilla reportedly asked: “Did you close your legs and all your female organs?”
The victim, who was four months pregnant at the time, reports that the comments were made on February 16th.
The next day the victim was called to make a statement before the judge who “showed obvious disbelief of the testimony of the victim, questioned her without allowing her to answer, asking leading and offensive questions,” said Blanca Estrella Ruiz of the Clara Campoamor Association.
According to the Association, the incident is not an isolated one.
“Such behaviour (by this judge) is habitual and continuous,” the association said.
“Other women have lodged complaints about the re-victimization they experienced in this court…women are scared as to what might happen to them as victims in this court and it is dis-incentivising them to report such crimes.”
The association is continuing its call for a full investigation of the judge.
