Elisa Mouliaá withdraws sexual abuse accusation against Íñigo Errejón

MadridOne month after the judge decided to send Íñigo Errejón to trial Following an alleged sexual assault against Elisa Mouliaá in 2021, the actress has announced she is withdrawing the accusation. "It's not a retraction, it's a boundary," she explained in a tweet. She recalls that the Prosecutor's Office, despite initially favoring dismissal of the case, considering that the commission of a crime "had not been sufficiently justified," determined the "veracity" of the events, and Judge Adolfo Carretero "found evidence of criminal activity." Mouliaá emphasizes that after the resignation of the former spokesperson for the Sumar party in the Congress of Deputies following anonymous accusations and the emergence of narratives suggesting they might be false, she stepped forward to "confirm that everything was true" and to "protect other women." "Over time, no other victim has come forward. I have been alone in carrying all of this, and I can't continue to do so," she argues. "Not because it isn't true, but because no one should have to bear something like this alone," she concludes.

From that point on, and despite the Public Prosecutor's opposition and the withdrawal of the private prosecution, the legal case could continue because there is a public prosecution: the Association for the Comprehensive Defense of Victims (ADIVE), which is seeking a three-year prison sentence for the former politician—the same sentence the actress had requested. Jorge Piedrafita, ADIVE's lawyer, told ARA that they will maintain the prosecution: "However powerful the accused may be, they cannot go unpunished, safeguarding the rights of the victim, who has suffered enormous distress and exposure alone," he stated. Elisa Mouliaá maintains that if the legal process continues, it will be without her participation: "I am withdrawing with a clear conscience. I am not running away; I am finishing my part by demonstrating that I want neither money nor the limelight," she said. And she made it clear that "the truth is already walking on its own."

Ten years ago, King Felipe VI's sister, Cristina de Borbón, was tried as an accomplice in two tax fraud offenses committed by her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, in the Nóos case. On that occasion, the Palma Provincial Court kept her in the dock even though she was only accused by the pseudo-union group Manos Limpias, which was acting as a private prosecutor. The Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office had requested her exclusion from the trial, but the Palma Provincial Court decided to keep her as a defendant. Before the trial, however, the Madrid Provincial Court will have to rule on the appeal filed by Errejón's lawyer, Eva Gimbernat, requesting that the case be dismissed. The document, which ARA had access to, argued that the proceedings carried out during the investigation "rule out the existence of even minimal evidence of criminality" and "corroborate the fabricated account of the complainant."

The fall of Errejón

It all began just over a year ago, when the actress filed a complaint against Errejón after the former spokesperson for Sumar resigned from all his public positions and left politics after admitting to "toxic" behavior with women. Mouliaá recounted three incidents during a party five years prior. First, in the elevator, Errejón kissed her on the mouth "without her consent"; then, at the party, the former Sumar deputy locked her in a room and touched her again without her consent. The third incident occurred when Errejón suggested Mouliaá take a taxi to his home and, during the ride, again "touched and groped her without her consent" until she asked him to stop. When he testified as a suspect, Errejón denied doing anything without the actress's consent. Before the investigating judge decided to open a trial against the former spokesperson for Sumar, the defense had requested that the case be dismissed, arguing that there was no "minimal evidence of criminality" and that Mouliaá had "fabricated" a story.