The judge and prosecutor at the 15th Magistrates’ Court halted Gobierna-te’s bid to begin an investigation or a general case based on confidential files from the Equality Department spanning 2016 to 2018. The Gobierna-te group is the vocal complainant in the case that scrutinizes the Equality Ministry administration in connection with a minor abuse matter overseen by Monica Oltra’s former husband, monitor Luis Ramírez Icardi.
The side represented by attorney Pablo Delgado for Francisco Camps argued that a string of lawsuits filed on March 21 were only partly approved. At the prosecutor’s request, the judge allowed the protection file of the juvenile under guardianship, started in 2008, the judicial measures tied to the abuse case, and information clearly provided by the police through the Police Provincial Intelligence Brigade. This is the file that forms part of the secret separate piece the 15th Teaching judge decided to open on April 27 and, yesterday, to declassify the summary.
Gobierna-te demanded that hidden actions before and after be included in the case involving the minor under investigation, along with files from 2017 and 2018. They also sought administrative contracts related to the Niño Jesús Center and the Espill Institute from 2015 to 2022. They requested a “report,” in addition to any form of communication between those investigated and other potential actors from 2017 to the present, including police intelligence and communications data.
The judge and prosecutor, in their response to these requests, agreed to include the abused minor’s file but paused the rest of the proceedings. It was noted that the recruitment files on Hogar Niño Jesús would be unlikely to aid the investigation, and even the letter itself did not clearly indicate this. The same reasoning applied to the materials linked to the Espill Institute.
The prosecutor noted that with regard to the requested contract files, any potential benefit to the investigation had not been demonstrated, and the document did not specify this. In light of the already extensive investigative actions, adding these documents could cause more harm than help.
Concerning the Espill Institute’s hiring irregularities, the accusation seems to be moving slowly and lacks a clear understanding of the ongoing process’s purpose. The prosecutor responded to information from the Government about his request for a lawsuit challenging the alleged unlawful extension of the Espill contract. It is noted that the institute would conduct psychological assessments for minor victims of sexual abuse.
Non-process irregularities
Thus, both the magistrate and the prosecutor invoked one of the two popular charges in this case, arguing that those involved should be held to account for improprieties, while in other aspects they contended they were not guilty. The magistrate stated that such assertions would be irrelevant to the proceedings’ goals, with some statements implying criminal conduct unrelated to legitimate defense interests. They argued that providing these without a judge’s encouragement revealed a failure to adhere to diligence and care in custodial duties.
Regarding a request to include communications from fourteen individuals under investigation—Equality department officials, two workers from Hogar Niño Jesús, and Mónica Oltra herself—the Prosecutor’s Office stated that the request was overt and disproportionately broad, likely presenting enormous practical difficulties.
On the matter of a “police amnesty” proposed by the public accusation to shield privacy, the magistrate and the Public Ministry told Gobierna-te that the intended police protection was insufficient and related.
Secret of the piece containing the minor’s file revealed
The president of the 15th Magistrates’ Court of Valencia ordered, on 13 July, that the parties be allowed access to the secret chamber opened on 27 April to gather the full file held by the Equality Department concerning the minor protected by the Generalitat. The minor faced harassment from a monitor, linked to Mónica Oltra’s former husband. Information was collected by the National Police Provincial Information Brigade during an appearance at the Ministry of Equality headquarters on 20 June. By permitting declassification for the parties, the magistrate announced the contents of the secret piece in the same order: the protection file for the juvenile under guardianship, initiated in 2008, along with the judicial injunction file. The abuse case documents and materials obtained by this publication show that the Equality Ministry opened the file following the start of the judicial investigation. Documents provided by the department’s general secretary include three boxes with files (protection, forensic, and informational) containing up to 500 pages, as recorded in the opening document. This forms part of the precautionary measures opened on 27 April. The documents will be available from 27 July, when the synopsis for this report officially concluded.