Spain to seek new anti-abuse bracelet operator after data disruption outcry

Audio By Carbonatix

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain will seek a replacement for the network provider running tracking devices worn by men accused of violence towards former partners, it said on Monday, after a data glitch impeded an unspecified number of criminal trials.

More than 4,500 women have restraining orders protecting them in Spain, whose leftist government has made strengthening women’s rights a primary goal.

Last week, the prosecuting authority said in its annual report that a previous change in network operators for the wrist or ankle bracelets had wiped tracking data being used for an unspecified number of gender violence cases.

The revelation sparked an outcry and calls for the resignation of Equality Minister Ana Redondo.

The government had earlier faced a scandal over the redrafting of a sexual consent law with the intention of protecting women from sexual violence that instead inserted a loophole allowing hundreds of convicted rapists to win early release.

Redondo has insisted that the devices at all times ensured the safety of victims, who are alerted through a smartphone to the proximity of their harasser.

She said on Monday that a new tender would be issued in coming months for a new service provider offering technical upgrades to ensure the information flow from the devices to the cloud would be uninterrupted.

Most of the stalled court cases were reopened once the missing data was recovered, the prosecuting authority confirmed.

It echoed Redondo’s claim that victims’ safety was never compromised. “Victims were always protected, and the devices worked as intended,” the prosecutor’s office said.

The issues were resolved by the end of 2024 and no incidents were reported in 2025.

Since 2003, Spain has recorded 1,322 suspected femicides, according to data by the Equality Ministry.

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Inti Landauro, Editing by Aislinn Laing)