Singer Julio Iglesias has filed a lawsuit against the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, for the “insulting and slanderous” comments she made on social media and in a television program regarding the complaint for alleged sexual abuse, which was dismissed by the Prosecutor's Office for lack of jurisdiction. In his writ to the Madrid Court (Civil Section), to which EFE had access this Tuesday, the singer, through his lawyer José Antonio Choclán, requests the holding of a conciliation session in which the minister acknowledges the damage caused, rectifies her statements (in the same media and at the same time slot) and compensates Julio Iglesias with the amount to be determined “based on the damages caused by the dissemination of the insulting and slanderous behavior.” The conciliation session is a prerequisite, the lawyer recalls, for filing a complaint for the alleged commission of crimes of insults and slander with publicity by Yolanda Díaz. He specifically refers to the statements made by the minister when said complaint became known, on the social network Bluesky on January 13 and the following day in an interview on the ‘La Hora de la 1’ program on RTVE. In both media, the writ states, “the defendant, a high-ranking public official of the State, made clear prejudices of guilt against Mr. Iglesias to the public opinion, such as that sexual abuse was taking place in his house, the workers were in a situation of slavery and their fundamental rights were systematically being violated.” Díaz: “Chilling testimonies from Julio Iglesias's former employees.” “Chilling testimonies from Julio Iglesias's former employees. With or without complaints, women are no longer silent,” the vice president wrote this Tuesday on her Bluesky social media account. “Thanks to the brave women and journalists from @eldiario.es for denouncing it,” Díaz said in her message. A social media post where Díaz has 38,027 followers and that was “widely commented on and shared on social networks” and generated news in other media, highlights the 12-page writ. In the interview on TVE, which the lawsuit includes in transcript, Yolanda Díaz added: “I think the investigation we are learning about these days is terrifying, it is frightening, it concentrates all the violations of human rights against women who were also in a position of extreme inferiority, extreme as human beings, extreme as workers of Julio Iglesias.” The lawyer: The interview had “unequivocal media repercussion.” The singer's lawyer reflects that the interview had “unequivocal media repercussion,” considering that on that day the program led the audience in the morning slot with a 17.3% audience share. He considers, therefore, that the minister “openly violated her institutional duties as a high-ranking State official by violating the right to the presumption of innocence by affecting the right to honor and personal reputation of the person investigated in a criminal process.” These statements, he adds, “irreparably damage not only the right to the presumption of innocence” in a case in which no judicial proceeding was ever opened, “but also, as far as we are concerned, his right to personal privacy and honor.” The lawyer also cites jurisprudence on this matter from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and points out that the statements by Yolanda Díaz against her client also contravene the European directive that strengthens the criminal process and which expressly prohibits public authorities from making public references to the guilt of the person subject to criminal proceedings. Díaz responds to Iglesias that she will continue to defend working women. Díaz has responded to Iglesias that she will continue to defend working women. “I defend working women against anyone who violates their integrity and their rights and I am not going to stop doing so. Sexual abuse and a situation of slavery with a power structure based on permanent aggression.”
