The organizations Women’s Link and Amnesty International, which advise former employees of Julio Iglesias who denounced the artist for sexual harassment and assault, consider the decision of the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office to archive the investigation “regrettable” and announce that the two women “will continue to fight for justice and will resort to the available legal channels.”
Both organizations published a statement this Friday in which they criticize the decision of the National Court Prosecutor’s Office to archive the investigation opened following a complaint by two former employees against the singer for alleged harassment and sexual assault in 2021 in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, due to the “lack of jurisdiction” and competence of the Spanish courts.
The public ministry issued a decree, known this Friday, in which it concludes that the requirements required by law are not met for the Spanish Justice to investigate the complaint, presented for the crimes of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of imposing forced labor and servitude, sexual assault, injuries and crime against workers’ rights.
Read: The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office files the complaint against Julio Iglesias due to lack of jurisdiction
For the organizations that support the complainants, the Prosecutor’s Office’s decision is “regrettable” because “it loses the opportunity to investigate the facts and consider all the evidence that Rebeca and Laura included in their complaint.”
They believe that “there has been no in-depth analysis of the guilt or not of the accused, so the complainants could reproduce their complaint before the pertinent judicial bodies.”
“The idea that a Spanish citizen could be exempt from facing a justice process if the alleged crimes of which he is accused did not occur in Spain and were committed against non-Spanish women ignores the principle of extraterritoriality and, furthermore, the fundamental human right so that all women and girls can live in a world free of violence,” the statement added.
Women’s Link and Amnesty International emphasize that the Warsaw Convention and the Istanbul Convention “oblige States to investigate human rights violations when the alleged perpetrator is a national of the country, even if the events occurred outside the territory.”
The reported events affect a former employee of the singer’s home and a physiotherapist, who provided work documents, photographs, recordings, WhatsApp messages or call records to prove their accusations, which include sexual assaults, harassment and systematic workplace humiliation.
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The two women filed the complaint on January 5, represented by the organization Women’s Link, and indicated that they were doing so so that others would report it and not suffer abuse of this type again.
Rebeca and Laura will continue fighting for justice
According to Women’s Link and Amnesty International, “Rebeca and Laura will continue to fight for justice” and “will not accept a legal technicality so that their complaint is not investigated.”
Thus, they demand that the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court “consider all the information and evidence presented”, since there are three briefs to which it did not respond, and they highlight that, having six months to investigate, it has made the decision in less than two weeks.
“Rebeca and Laura have asked that their privacy be respected while they determine their next legal steps. They fear possible retaliation. However, they have reiterated that they will continue to fight for justice and will resort to the available legal avenues that, as indicated in the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court, allow them to guarantee their rights,” the statement concludes.
With information from EFE
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