Errejón’s double standard: from defending conciliation to criticizing the maternity leave of Elisa Mouliaá’s lawyer

For years, Íñigo Errejón He did not hesitate to position himself as a defender of justice and reparation for women who reported sexist or sexual violence. From his political platform, he advocated empathy towards the victims and non-revictimization. However, now that he is the one facing a complaint for sexual assault, accused by the actress Elisa Mouliaáhas taken a turn in his speech and, as he explains in a conversation with Public Maria Naredo, jurist specialized in violence against women, seems to be following “the good manual of defending aggressors.”

The judicial procedure is currently suspended due to the maternity leave for the lawyer from Mouliaá. Although in its appeal Errejón’s defense has described this measure as a “delaying maneuver” and has requested that the process be resumed as soon as possible, requesting that the complainant appoint a new lawyer within a maximum period of 24 hours.

María Naredo, jurist: “We cannot go back: victims have the right to be heard and protected”

The specialist María Naredo emphasizes, however, that this position ignores some fundamental rights: “The right of the victim to have A trusted lawyer is essential, especially in cases of sexual violence. Trying to limit it under the pretext of an alleged delay is tremendous.” The lawyer recalls that suspension for maternity leave is a right recognized in the European Conciliation Directive of 2019 and fought within the legal profession. “The only thing missing is that they could reconcile other sectors and not the lawyers. The victim has every right to have someone in whom to place that trust and it is key in these cases,” he insists.

The former deputy himself has defended this right of women to conciliation on countless occasions. On May 7, 2017, she wrote on her

On February 2, 2018, one year later, he wrote in another tweet: “My generation today cannot consider starting a family. Much less if you are a woman and have to choose between your professional career and being a mother.. And it is not just a personal drama: it is unfair but also unsustainable. Need decent employment and equal and non-transferable permits”.

A double standard that has caught the attention of some people, while others, like Naredo, have not found it so incoherent: “He is a guy who, as we have seen, seems to be used to always controlling the times.”

María Naredo: “The rights of the accused are guaranteed by law, but those of the victims require an additional effort”

Errejón’s defense argues that the suspension of his statement keeps him in a “procedural limbo” that affects his honor and his right to the presumption of innocence. However, as Naredo points out, this narrative aligns with a fairly common strategy: turning the accused into a victim of the judicial system, shifting the focus of attention from the complainant’s suffering: “Instead of focusing on the evidence or the truth of the facts, resorting to questioning the rights of the victim or sowing doubts on their credibility to gain time and public support.

Although Spain has made progress in legislation that prioritizes exhaustive investigation in cases of gender and sexual violence, aware of the difficulties that victims face in providing conclusive evidence in crimes that also usually occur in private; As Naredo points out, this framework is not always respected. “The provisional dismissal is a recurring practice in the courts, especially in cases of sexual violence, where The lack of direct evidence is usually interpreted as insufficient evidencewhen what usually happens is that an adequate investigation is not carried out,” he says.

“The rights of the accused are guaranteed by law and the Constitution, but the rights of victims, more recently recognized, require additional effort to be effectively implemented. With what we have advanced, we cannot go back: victims have the right to be heard and protected“adds the jurist.

Sows doubt about the “false” complaint

The accused’s lawyer emphasizes that Errejón’s “desire” was to testify in court last Tuesday, as initially planned, “in order to be able to offer the corresponding explanations before the judicial body and expose the reality of the facts, which are far from much of those described by Mouliaá in his false complaintand that may be distorted by the evidentiary procedures carried out throughout the instruction phase (…) The bad faith is undoubtedly; and the abuse of rights, indisputable“, he mentions.

At this point, Errejón may also have taken his contradiction between the person and the character to the limit. “There are no false complaints, there is a fanatical right whose job is to criminalize women,” wrote in X on September 9, 2020. Although now he seems to have changed his mind.

It is worth remembering that, as in any crime, in order to say that a complaint of sexist violence or sexual violence is false, the accused must denounce the plaintiff for this crime. In this case, Errejón would have to denounce Mouliaá, something that has not happened so far.

From there, a judicial process would be opened that would involve proving that the complainant acted intentionally to lie or deceive the authorities. In Spain, very few people accused of sexual assault and gender violence decide to “counter-report” and even fewer end up with a resolution in favor. According to the 2023 report of the Prosecutor’s Office, only 0.001% of complaints about gender violence were false last year, to give us an idea.