The mayor of Móstoles, Manuel Bautista (PP), has been summoned to testify as an investigated party on October 9th in the case investigating him for the complaint filed by a former councilor of his party for sexual and workplace harassment.
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According to the newspaper ‘El País’ and confirmed to Efe by judicial sources, the presiding judge of seat 2 of the Violence Against Women Section of the Móstoles Court of First Instance has also ordered the summoning of five witnesses requested by the private prosecution.
Among the summoned witnesses, according to the complainant’s lawyer who spoke to Efe, are the former councilor Raúl Gallego Parrondo, who resigned last March from his councilor position after showing solidarity with his colleague, and the former Communications Chief of the City Council David Zamorano.
The former councilor testified last June 29
This summons of the mayor as an investigated party comes after the judge took testimony from the former complainant councilor on June 29, who reaffirmed her complaint and insisted that the mayor made “sexual propositions on three occasions” and that her rejection led to “the beginning of an alleged workplace harassment process.”
In her first appearance before the judge, which lasted more than three hours, the former councilor also detailed that “she reported these facts to the PP,” but “no attention was paid to her” and that she even felt “coerced” by the two interlocutors that the PP leadership provided to handle the matter.
The proceedings were initiated on April 15 after the presiding judge of seat 1 of the Violence Against Women Section of the Court of First Instance admitted the complaint filed against the mayor and the PP, which was also accused of not protecting her in her internal complaints.
For his part, the Móstoles mayor, who has denied the accusations from the outset, appealed the order admitting the complaint for processing, arguing that it “manifestly, clearly, and objectively lacks the typical objective and subjective elements required by criminal law.”
However, the judge rejected the argument, considering that the acts reported, if proven, have “criminal relevance” and are “classified in our Code,” thus dismissing the appeal filed by the mayor and deeming the agreed actions “perfectly appropriate.”
The complaint was filed on February 16 by the former Móstoles councilor who first internally reported the mayor for alleged sexual and workplace harassment, as well as crimes against moral integrity, injuries, coercion, and breach of confidentiality, also pointing to the Popular Party (PP) for not protecting her.
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