Ten years without Diana Quer: the femicide that shook the statistics and the reviewable permanent prison

Ten years have passed since Diana Quer was sexually assaulted and murdered during the early hours of August 22 in A Pobra do Caramiñal, near A Coruña. The case marked a turning point in public discourse around violence against women, media coverage, judicial treatment, and the specific needs of victims who had previously been treated more as subjects of brief commentary than as individuals with urgent legal and social needs. A decade later, progress has become evident, yet many of the discussions initiated at the time remain unresolved. The introduction of the prisión permanente revisable, a form of indefinite detention subject to periodic review, into Spain’s penal code took effect one year before the murder. This reform was enacted solely by the Popular Party (PP), despite opposition from progressive parties who viewed it as a disguised life sentence. Opposition groups organized a constitutional challenge, which became one of the key demands of the left. The search for Diana Quer continued for nearly 16 months, during which political debates over the law intensified. Diana Quer disappeared during the late summer of 2013, her body found almost 16 months later. During this period, political activity surrounding the issue remained active. In February 2014, a bill aimed at repealing the prisión permanente revisable was introduced in the lower house of parliament. By December of that year, José Enrique Abuín confessed to the crime and revealed the location of the body. The father of the victim, Juan Carlos Quer, launched a successful petition opposing the repeal, framing the punishment as fair and justified. The PP under Mariano Rajoy aligned with this stance, using the case to resist any legislative concessions. In January 2018, Pedro Sánchez assumed leadership of the government, shifting the political landscape. The debate over the law appeared to lose momentum, with both repeal and expansion proposals remaining in limbo. At the time, Justice Minister Dolores Delgado committed to halting any political action until the Constitutional Court rendered its decision. In December 2019, the Provincial Court of A Coruña sentenced Abuín to prisión permanente revisable for illegal detention, sexual assault, and murder. The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling the following year. By then, the coalition government formed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos had abandoned plans to abolish the law, though they had previously criticized it as “punitive populism.” In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled the prisión permanente revisable constitutionally valid, sparking controversy among judges. While the legal battle was resolved, the broader societal and political tensions persisted. In October 2023, the PP reintroduced legislation to expand the scope of the law. The proposal was rejected in March of that year by a narrow margin: 172 votes in favor and 174 against. Diana Quer's killing was not recorded in official statistics because she did not have a close relationship with her attacker. Her case became emblematic of how such crimes often go unnoticed or are misclassified. Her name entered history, but her story remained obscured within bureaucratic records, much like other similar cases. Her death highlighted the systemic failures in addressing gender-based violence and the lack of comprehensive data tracking. Despite the passage of time, the legacy of her murder continues to influence ongoing conversations about justice, accountability, and the protection of women.