Woman sentenced for sending more than 200 messages and emails ‘against the honour’ of her ex-husband

Rosalía de Padura, former councilor of Boadilla del Monte (Spain), was sentenced by the Supreme Court of Madrid after sending more than 200 messages through emails and WhatsApp groups about the complaint she filed against her ex-partner, the lawyer Cesar Martin Morales.

According to the high court, The accused carried out an “indiscriminate dissemination” of information with the aim of damaging the reputation of her husband. and for this reason, he was found guilty of a crime against the intrusion of his honour, for which he must pay 3,000 euros in compensation.

The decision is linked to a complaint filed by Padura in September 2015 against Martín Morales, for which she obtained a precautionary restraining order for alleged crimes of harassment in the family environment, against moral integrity and coercion.

Although, as the ruling also highlights, Padura had previously filed further complaints of harassment, threats and assault against her and her family.

“He swore in front of many witnesses that he was going to make my life impossible and he is keeping his word. He already hit my mother once and told my daughter that he would see if she would die or that he would have to give her a little push,” says a complaint filed with the Civil Guard on September 7 of that year.

De Padura sent a copy of the newspaper article by email to 177 clients, friends, family members and acquaintances of Martín Morales, and forwarded it to two WhatsApp groups that she herself created.

However, Martín Morales’ legal representative claimed at the time that everything was false and that what was being discussed was “a complicated divorce” that was being taken to criminal court for “spurious reasons.”

Considering that the lawyer was linked at that time with the so-called Gürtel case – for which he was accused of money laundering, bribery and criminal association – various Spanish media outlets, including El Confidencial, reported on the complaints filed by his ex-wife.

Days after, Padura sent a copy of the newspaper article by email to 177 clients, friends, family members and acquaintances of Martín Morales, and forwarded it to two WhatsApp groups that she herself created.

Following a new lawsuit filed by her ex-husband, in which he also demanded payment of 280,000 euros for violation of his honor, the Provincial Court of Madrid stated that de Padura filed a “biased” complaint on September 10 and concluded that the accused “intended to consciously alter reality to make it coincide with the accusatory thesis that is being deployed.”

The Supreme Court of Madrid finally condemned her, considering that “the fact that the plaintiff is accused in a criminal case – the Gürtel plot – and that he may have public exposure, “It does not deprive him of his fundamental right to honour, nor does it justify his being defamed by mass dissemination among the people around him.”