The Prosecutor’s Office files the proceedings against Julio Iglesias due to “the lack of competence” of the National Court

Sources from Julio Iglesias’ legal team have conveyed to Europa Press their satisfaction with the file

The Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court has agreed to archive the investigation proceedings against the singer Julio Iglesias for the alleged sexual assaults against two former employees of his domestic service due to the “lack of jurisdiction” of the court to hear events that would have occurred in the Caribbean.

In an archival decree, collected by Europa Press, the Public Ministry makes this decision highlighting the “lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts and therefore the lack of competence of the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court to hear the pre-procedural investigation of the reported events.”

Legal sources have explained to Europa Press that this decision is not appealable. In the resolution, the Public Prosecutor’s Office explains to the complainants that the path they must follow now, if they so consider it, is to “reproduce their complaint before the judicial bodies.”

The Prosecutor’s Office recalls that, according to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, “it is not up to Spain to investigate acts committed beyond its borders when another State has clear and effective jurisdiction to do so, and there is no reason not to initiate the corresponding criminal actions there.”

The decree recalls that, although the crime of trafficking in human beings – one of those reported – is pursued extraterritorially, it requires that the procedure be directed against a Spaniard and that there be elements of a material connection with Spain, such as the victims being nationals or residing in the country.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office recalls, in this regard, that “the victims are foreigners”, that “they do not reside in Spain” and that “the facts are attributed to countries fully competent” to hear them. Furthermore, it indicates that those accused – in addition to Iglesias, a Brazilian citizen and another Colombian – do not reside in Spain either.

The resolution explains that the National Court has confirmed in other cases that Spain “is not competent to investigate crimes committed abroad when there are no relevant links with our country.” “Especially when the victims are foreigners and are not residents of Spain, the alleged perpetrators are also residents or are not in Spain and the events are investigated or can be investigated in the State where they occurred,” he concludes.

THE LEGAL TEAM OF IGLESIAS, SATISFIED WITH THE DECISION

For their part, sources from Julio Iglesias’ legal team have conveyed to Europa Press their satisfaction with the filing of the investigation opened against him. “The decision has been based on legality and current jurisprudence,” they stressed.

However, they have denounced a “public lynching” and “the orchestration of a media montage” against the singer. “The damage caused to Julio Iglesias has been enormous and irreparable, affecting not only his public image, but also him and his family environment,” they indicated.

THE COMPLAINT OF THE FORMER WORKERS

Two former workers – a domestic worker and a physiotherapist – claim to have suffered touching, insults and humiliation during their work day in an environment of control and continuous harassment, according to an investigation carried out by ‘elDiario.es’ in collaboration with Univisión Noticias.

One of these employees claims to have been pressured to have sexual encounters with the artist and speaks of penetrations, slaps, and physical and verbal humiliation. These events, according to two of the interviewees, occurred in 2021 when the youngest of them was 22 years old.

This is clear from the investigation carried out over three years, in which 15 former employees of the service have been contacted, including domestic staff and other specialized professionals who worked for the singer between 1990 and 2023 at properties in the Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Spain.

The employee who has claimed to have suffered penetrations maintains that the Spanish artist, who was 77 years old at the time, called her to his room many times at the end of the work day. “He used me almost every night,” he says in an interview with investigative media.

“I felt like an object, like a slave,” she adds. These sexual encounters almost always occurred with the presence and participation of another employee who held hierarchical superiority over this domestic service worker.

According to the investigation, in the interviews the affected people talk about “conditions of isolation of women, labor conflicts, the hierarchical structure of the staff and the environmental tension generated by Iglesias’ irascible character.”

The two women who report sexual assaults “were interviewed repeatedly over more than a year, and offer consistent and stable testimonies,” says the publication, which ensures that “their statements have been contrasted with abundant documentary evidence, such as photographs, call logs, WhatsApp messages, visas, medical reports and other documents.”

The events described by two of the workers would have taken place at the residences of Julio Iglesias in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and in Lyford Cay (Bahamas) supposedly with the knowledge of the women in charge of managing the home and hiring the staff, according to these two former workers.