The judicial ordeal of Mónica Oltra

ValenciaAlthough she left the political frontline some time ago, Mónica Oltra's ordeal continues. Everything is ready for the oral trial. –still undated– against the former vice president of the Valencian government and fourteen other people, most of them former senior officials in the Ministry of Equality and Inclusive Policies. They are accused of covering up the sexual abuse suffered by a minor under the guardianship of the Generalitat Valenciana (Generalitat Valenciana) and committed by Luis Eduardo Ramírez, the ex-husband of the Compromís leader.

But when did the case that forced the main thorn in the side of the Valencian right begin? The investigation began in 2016, when Ramírez was a teacher at a private foster home and abused a minor. After an initial trial, he was convicted in 2019. However, the trial was annulled because the court failed to consider two reports that cast doubt on the credibility of the victim's witness. In March 2021, the trial was rehearsed, and the attacker was sentenced to five years in prison. The High Court of Justice of Valencia (TSJPV) subsequently upheld the sentence, which was later ratified by the Supreme Court.

Ramírez's conviction did not spell the end of the case, as the Gobiérnate association, led by far-right journalist and former Vox leader Cristina Seguí, used it to file a complaint against Oltra and the actions of her department. Although the judge initially dismissed the complaint, the Fourth Section of the Valencia Provincial Court—at the request of the minor's defense, led by lawyer José Luis Roberto, leader of the far-right party España 2000—finally ordered its reopening to investigate the alleged failure of the regional ministry to fulfill its duty of custody and protection in the preparation of the internal report that discredited the victim's version of events.

The great political earthquake was recorded on June 16, 2022, when the TSJPV agreed Oltra's indictmentThe Valencian politician could only withstand the pressure from the media, her party and her partners in the Generalitat – especially the PSPV – for six days and resigned. Then came the his statement on September 19 and joy, when on April 3 of last year Judge Vicente Ríos filed the investigation –it was the second time she had done so– considering that it had not been proven, "not even within the scope of the evidence," that the Valencian politician or any senior official in the regional ministry had given any order "aimed at concealing" Ramírez's abuse "or discrediting the minor." The final bucket of cold water came last June when, once again, the fourth section of the Valencia Provincial Court ordered the case to be reopened. The decision was irreversible and led to the holding of an oral trial, as confirmed this week.

Vox, España 2000 and Cristina Seguí

Beyond the key moments, it's also worth looking at the key players in the case. Among its proponents is Vox, which is acting as a private prosecutor along with Cristina Seguí's Gobiérnate association and the far-right lawyer José Luis Roberto. In the judicial sphere, we find judges Pedro Castellano, Macarena Amparo Mira Picó, and Isabel Sifres, who make up the now-famous Fourth Chamber. A court that is criticized for accumulating rulings favorable to the Popular Party, such asthe filing of the alleged illegal financing of the municipal groupled by Rita Barberá and the case against former president Francisco Campsfor the organization of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Valencia. The same room alsoacquitted the eighteen defendantsbelonging to the neo-Nazi group Anti-System Front in 2005 in the so-called Operation Panzer. On the contrary, it will sentence former Valencian President Eduardo Zaplana to ten and a half years in prison for the collection of commissions in exchange for contracts awarded by the Generalitat.