They hid their faces behind ski masks and forced the door of the so‑called “occupied” house. While the residents slept, two couples armed with crowbars and iron bars threatened to beat and behead them to coerce them into signing a document renouncing their right to stay in the home. This is how a company described as an “evacuation” operator acted when raiding two houses in the Benicalap district of Valencia in September 2021. According to the indictment, after receiving the alleged order from the owner of the developer who owned the properties, the Ministry of Finance, the operation proceeded. Now each of the three workers from the eviction firm faced penalties including twelve years of imprisonment—four for coercion and two for breaking and entering—according to Levante-EMV of the Ibérica Prensa Group, as reported at the time. In addition to a fine of 2,520 euros and 3,500 euros for injuries, the defendants were charged with other offenses in the event of any of these: sexual abuse of one of the victims, with the woman receiving an additional 6,000 euros for inappropriate touching of her breasts.
The hearing for these events was scheduled yesterday in the criminal court in Valencia. However, the oral hearing was interrupted because one of the defendants did not appear. The judge ordered searches and the arrest of that defendant to ensure all defendants, including one held in custody for another reason, were present at the hearing.
Prosecutor demands 14,400 euros fine for the owner of the contractor who hired them to evict two couples who occupied the property
In addition to the three alleged trespassers and raiders, the manager of the developer who owned the occupied homes is also being sued for employing this company in Madrid in September 2021 for the purpose of recovering possession of the properties, aiming to bypass the legal judicial procedure. The prosecutor’s office is seeking a 14,400 euro fine for arbitrarily enforcing one’s own rights.
As this newspaper has previously reported, in the early morning hours of September 29, 2021, three workers from the eviction company allegedly broke into the two homes that were the inviolable residences of the two couples. They had reportedly requested a new door installation from a different security company.
They acted like police
At the second property, the three defendants allegedly posed as police officers and demanded that the residents open the door. The trio forcefully entered and broke the door to compel the couples to sign a document giving up their residence. The victims were asleep, and when one of the women went to dress after being interrupted, she was partially unclothed. One of the defendants allegedly touched her breasts and made sexual remarks: “How beautiful you are.” These statements are supported by the prosecutor’s office, the special prosecutor, and the victims who will testify at the hearing.
Valencia Local Police officers arrived at the scene after neighbors reported the incident and arrested the three workers from the eviction company, according to Levante-EMV’s coverage.
The prosecutor asks that the company Doka Desokupamos SL pay 2,480 euros as compensation for injuries to four victims as part of secondary liability. As for the businessman who hired the services to liberate his properties from occupancy, the oral hearing will determine whether he was indeed aware of the violent measures used by the other three defendants to evict the occupants. He is not charged with trespassing, coercion, or injury, but faces two charges related to the arbitrary application of the law.
Before the oral hearing began, which was postponed due to one of the three eviction workers failing to appear, another defendant was caught attempting to hand a mobile phone to a colleague inside a wool hat. He is the only one among the defendants currently in prison for another reason. When that defendant was brought from prison to the courthouse for the hearing, a colleague who remained free tried to pass him the phone by simulating a handoff. As the hearing was adjourned, National Police agents, who were responsible for detaining the prisoner before returning him to custody, noticed the hat passed among several hands and concluded it did not belong to him. A later inspection revealed the phone hidden inside a plastic package, reinforcing why mobile devices are forbidden inside prison facilities and are treated as contraband.