Spain pol resigns after rape comment

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MADRID, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A Spanish politician whose comments about rape caused an uproar has resigned his office, officials said.

Jose Manuel Castelao Bragana, a former member of Parliament representing Galicia who was until Sunday the head of the council for Spanish citizens abroad, was quoted in media saying "laws are like women -- they are there to be violated." In Spanish, the verb "violar" means both "to violate" and "to rape."

ThinkSpain reported the response was one-sided, with members of Bragana's own party calling the remark "barbaric" and demanding a public apology.

Bragana said he was resigning "for personal reasons" and had not been forced to quit.

He said he did not intend to offend anyone.

"This hurts, because I have a completely different personality to what the controversy suggests," he said.