At the start of the session, the President of the Chamber, Enrique Ossorio, called for a minute of silence «for the death of a woman in Alpedrete». The President, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, defended the mayor, Juan Fernández, from the People's Party, calling him «the most accurate» after the murder in his town, as he knew the family best and the wishes of the children. Afterwards, in the corridor, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Más Madrid announced they would demand explanations from Ossorio for omitting the term «gender-based violence» during the minute of silence. In the Plenary, the PSOE's deputy spokesperson, Fernando Fernández Lara, was the first to use the Alpedrete murder to throw it back at Ayuso over the mayor's initial remarks, when he stated that the husband might have succumbed to the psychological illness he suffered from, and that he «loved his wife very much» and the «system had failed». Following the criticism received, the mayor was forced to clarify that he unreservedly rejects any form of violence against women. «They killed our parents,» they stated in an open letter. After a week of controversy, and following the PSOE's use of the issue again in the Assembly, Ayuso stated that the mayor was «the most accurate» after the crime in his town. «They weren't even able to wait for the family's explanation to already raise their flags, to divide one side from the other again,» lamented the President to the left in the Madrid Assembly. Ayuso criticized the left-wing groups for being «sectarian even on the issue of Alpedrete». According to the President of the Government, «whoever belittles» the impact of machismo «is not worthy of representing the citizenry». The murder last Saturday in Alpedrete, where a man stabbed his wife 50 times, was very much present at the Plenary session of the Assembly this Thursday. The preliminary item on the Plenary agenda was «a minute of silence for the latest victim of gender-based violence in the region». The children denounced the «institutional abandonment» of their parents. All the deputies, without exception, stood up in memory of the murdered woman. «They weren't even able to respect anonymous citizens who simply asked to be left in peace».
Political Scandal in Madrid Over Alpedrete Murder
Political crisis in Madrid after a woman's murder in Alpedrete. President Isabel Díaz Ayuso defends the mayor, while the opposition criticizes his initial remarks. A dispute over gender-based violence and the political exploitation of the tragedy has erupted in the Madrid Assembly.