Spain holds 5 men suspected of Pamplona rape

Spanish police detained five men Saturday arrested on suspicion of raping a young woman during Pamplona’s famed San Fermin bull-running festival, judicial sources said.

The men aged between 25 and 28 were arrested Thursday after a 19-year-old woman complained to police. Their nationalities were not released.

They were detained on suspicion of “several sexual assaults” on the victim, according to a spokesman for the court of appeal in Navarre, northern Spain.

“The judge must determine how many rapes took place,” the spokesman added.

Thousands of revellers wearing red and white gathered in Pamplona’s main square on Wednesday for the start of the nine-day fiesta.

Ahead of the fiesta, a tradition dating back to medieval times, Pamplona city hall had launched a campaign urging a “safe” environment for women “without sexist aggression”.

In Spain people convicted of rape can face prison terms of between six and 12 years — and up to 15 years in cases with aggravating circumstances.