The Court orders Mónica Oltra to stand trial against the opinion of the investigating judge

ValenciaThe Provincial Court of Valencia has overruled the investigating judge – who had requested the case be dismissed – and has ordered a trial against former Vice President of the Valencian Government Mónica Oltra and nine other defendants for the alleged cover-up of the sexual abuse of a minor under guardianship committed by Luis Eduardo Ramírez, Oltra's ex-husband, who was convicted for these acts. The decision also goes against the opinion of the Public Prosecutor's Office and supports the various far-right organizations that either represent the victim or are acting as private prosecutors. In its ruling, which ARA has obtained, the provincial judicial body insists on ordering a trial based on the "probability" that the events occurred. In this regard, she reiterates that "it can be argued as a plausible hypothesis that (...) the people who were aware of the facts" and who had guardianship of the minor, "would have tried to conceal the sexual abuse" and that, to do so, they "would have used a report" in which the minor was not questioned about the abuse" and by not reporting the facts or communicating them to the public prosecutor's office. During her testimony, Oltra asserted that she did not take an interest in the case file until 2020, when the case was first tried. That is, more than two years after learning of the events following the arrival of a court summons for Icardi at the home they shared, even though the couple was in the process of separating. During her testimony, the Compromís leader insisted that, at all times, she remained uninvolved in the actions of her department and explained that at the beginning of her term she signed a document committing herself to abstain from decisions affecting the children's center where her husband worked.

The regional government department maintained that an investigation was not opened to question the girl's credibility, but to find out what had gone wrong, because until then no one had believed her. They also explained that this is a standard procedure applied in all cases of sexual abuse of children under the guardianship of the regional government. They did admit that they should have automatically notified the Public Prosecutor's Office and attributed this error to a protocol that was subsequently modified.

The far right in the case

Judges Pedro Castellano, Clara Eugenia Bayarri, and Isabel Sifres have upheld the appeals filed by the private prosecution, representing the victim, María Teresa Tanco—through far-right lawyer and former president of España 2000, José Luis Roberto—and the two public prosecutions, represented by Vox and the association Gobiérna-Te, led by far-right activist Cristina Seguí. The court disagrees with the opinion of the public prosecutor and the investigating judge, Vicente Ríos, who has twice dismissed the case and maintains that the investigation failed to establish, "even circumstantially," that Oltra, or any senior official in the regional ministry, gave any order "aimed at concealing the facts or discrediting the minor." According to Ríos, the investigation also failed to demonstrate that the former vice president was aware of the events until August 4, 2017, when a court notification arrived at her home. She also acknowledged that it was not the Compromís leader who ordered the investigation by the regional ministry into the case once it was already in court, and that this procedure was not intended to discredit the victim or hide the events that occurred between December 2016 and February 2017.

Compromís has consistently attributed the Provincial Court's actions to the conservative bias of the Fourth Section, presided over by Judge Pedro Castellano. Specifically, they have pointed out that this section has issued several rulings favorable to the People's Party, such as the dismissal of the case concerning the alleged illegal financing of the municipal group led by Rita Barberá in Valencia and the case against former president Francisco Camps for alleged irregularities in the organization of Pope Benedict XVI's visit in 2006. The same court also acquitted the 18 defendants accused of belonging to the neo-Nazi group Frente Antisistema (FAS) in 2005 in what was known as Operation Panzer.

"Dirty War"

The investigation forced Oltra to step back from frontline politics. She did so on June 21, 2022, five days after being formally charged, when she resigned as vice president and spokesperson for the Valencian government, then presided over by the Socialist Ximo Puig. During the press conference in which she announced her decision, the Compromís leader argued that her indictment sent the message that "any politician who wants to implement policies that don't favor the powerful will be targeted with false accusations, dirty tricks in the courts, and lies." "The bad guys win," she summarized.

"The Money Trail"

Oltra has always maintained that the case stems from an operation orchestrated by major business figures and the political right. Specifically, she has cited Vox co-founder Cristina Seguí; former Valencian president Francisco Camps—one of the lawyers for the prosecution is Pablo Delgado, a business partner of the former head of the Valencian government—and Alberto de Rosa, then director of Ribera Salud—a company that held the concession for several hospitals—which the progressive government of the PSPV, Compromís, and Unides Podem brought back under public management. According to Oltra, it all stems from the businessman's discontent after the Valencian government reduced his ability to "profit from healthcare." "In any political witch hunt, you have to follow the money trail," she stated during a debate in the Valencian Parliament.