The British justice rejected on Thursday the request for immunity presented by the
King Emeritus of Spain, Juan Carlos Iin the framework of a harassment lawsuit filed by his ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein before the High Court of London.
(Spain: Prosecutor files investigations against King Emeritus Juan Carlos)
The defense of Juan Carlos de Borbón assured in December before the justice of England that he had immunity in his capacity as a “member of the Spanish royal family”.
(The divorce of the infanta Cristina: a new blow to the Spanish monarchy)
His lawyer, Daniel Bethlehem, argued that under Britain’s 1978 State Immunity Act, the king emeritus could not be tried by the British courts and that any accusation against him had to be brought before the Spanish justice system.
But Judge Matthew Nicklin ruled against her on Thursday, finding that “the plaintiff’s claim is based on harassing conduct by the defendant” and “such acts do not fall within the sphere of governmental or sovereign activity.” .
This allows Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, also known by her maiden name Corinna Larsen, move forward with her civil lawsuit. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that the defendant cannot hide behind any position, power or privilege to avoid this case,” said Robin Rathmell, attorney for the plaintiff.
“This is the first step on the road to justice; the appalling facts of this case will finally be brought to justice,” he added.
Juan Carlos I, 84, abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son Felipe VI, following a series of scandals that began in 2012 with an elephant hunt in Botswana, where he traveled precisely accompanied by Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a Danish businesswoman divorced from a German prince.
Subsequent revelations by this ex-lover about alleged embezzlement by Juan Carlos ended up leading to
king emeritus to go into exile in August 2020 to the United Arab Emirates.
He has lived there ever since, away from Spanish political life and stripped after his abdication of the immunity that protected him since he was appointed head of state in 1975, after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco who had appointed him as his successor.
Praised internationally for decades and respected nationally for having helped bring democracy back to Spain, Juan Carlos has seen his popularity plummet in recent years.
Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein58, says he was a lover of the then monarch between 2004 and 2009 and denounces that, after their breakup, she was spied on and was harassed by order of the former head of stateaccusations that he denies “in the strongest terms.”
She explained in court documents that she was close friends with him for a time after their separation, when he gave her “works of art, jewelry and financial gifts,” including payments worth about 65 million euros ($73 million) in June 2012.
But she claims that Juan Carlos tried to resume their relationship and, when she rejected him, the former sovereign engaged in a “pattern of behavior equivalent to harassment.” He “demanded the return of gifts,” was “threatening,” and “subsequently conducted or organized a series of acts of covert and overt surveillance, causing distress and anxiety” to his former lover, according to the lawsuit, which notes the involvement of members of the Spanish secret services.
For Judge Nicklin, “the acts of surveillance alleged by the plaintiff, if they were carried out by agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), could enjoy State immunity, but the Spanish State has not claimed said immunity and it is not clear what role precisely what the CNI agents performed in the alleged acts of harassment”.
Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein denounces that during a meeting at the Connaught Hotel in London on May 5, 2012, an “agent or associate” of the former monarch was “threatening” towards her and her children. And she assures that the meeting coincided “with the search of her apartments in Monaco and in Villars, Switzerland, where a book on the death of Princess Diana was left on a table.”
The businesswoman also denounces “illegal entries and criminal damage, such as drilling a hole in her bedroom window while she slept at night at her home in Shropshire”, in the northwest of England, on June 21, 2017, and shooting to the security cameras of its entrance on April 14, 2020.
After reporting these attacks to the police, Corinna now claims Juan Carlos “personal damages”for the “great mental pain, alarm, anxiety and anguish” that he says he has suffered. AFP
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