{"id":35203,"date":"2026-01-24T21:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/?p=35203"},"modified":"2026-01-24T18:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T14:58:54","slug":"julio-iglesias-sex-abuse-case-dismissed-jurisdiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/julio-iglesias-sex-abuse-case-dismissed-jurisdiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish Prosecutors Dismiss Julio Iglesias Sex Abuse Case Over Jurisdiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"background: #f7fafc; padding: 15px;\">\n<p><strong>Quick Read<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spanish prosecutors dismissed a sexual abuse and human trafficking complaint against Julio Iglesias on January 24, 2026.<\/li>\n<li>The dismissal was due to a lack of jurisdiction, as alleged acts occurred in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.<\/li>\n<li>Complainants are two foreign former domestic workers; Iglesias also lives outside Spain.<\/li>\n<li>Iglesias vehemently denied the allegations, calling them &#8220;absolutely false.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Advocacy groups Women&#8217;s Link Worldwide and Amnesty International called the decision &#8220;regrettable&#8221; and vowed to pursue other legal avenues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>MADRID (Azat TV) \u2013 Spanish prosecutors have dismissed a sexual abuse and human trafficking complaint against Grammy-winning singer Julio Iglesias, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The decision, announced Friday, January 24, 2026, by Madrid officials, means Spanish courts will not investigate the claims made by two former domestic workers against the 82-year-old artist, as the alleged acts occurred outside Spain and involved foreign complainants.<\/p>\n<p>The allegations, which gained significant media attention in Spain after being aired last week in a joint investigation by online Spanish newspaper <em>elDiario.es<\/em> and US television network <em>Univision<\/em>, involved two women \u2013 a domestic worker and a physiotherapist. They claimed to have suffered sexual and other forms of abuse while working at Iglesias&#8217;s properties in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.<\/p>\n<h2>Jurisdiction Issue Halts Spanish Probe<\/h2>\n<p>Spanish prosecutors stated in their decision that they could not open an investigation because the victims \u201care foreign\u201d and \u201cdo not reside in Spain,\u201d and the accused, Julio Iglesias, is also outside the country. Madrid-born Iglesias lives between Miami, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. The prosecutors concluded that the alleged acts took place \u201cin countries fully competent\u201d to investigate them, ruling out the jurisdiction of Spanish courts.<\/p>\n<p>Advocacy groups Women&#8217;s Link Worldwide and Amnesty International had filed a complaint with Spanish prosecutors on January 5, outlining alleged acts that they contended could be considered \u201ca crime of human trafficking for the purpose of forced labour\u201d and \u201ccrimes against sexual freedom.\u201d According to testimony collected by these groups, Iglesias allegedly subjected the women to \u201csexual harassment, regularly checked their mobile phones, restricted their ability to leave the home where they worked, and required them to work up to 16 hours a day without days off.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Iglesias Denies Allegations, Victims Vow to Continue Fight<\/h2>\n<p>Julio Iglesias has vehemently denied the accusations. In an Instagram message last week, he called the accusations \u201cabsolutely false,\u201d stating he had never \u201cabused, coerced, or disrespected any woman.\u201d He added, \u201cI have never felt such malice, but I still have the strength to let people know the whole truth and to defend my dignity against such a serious accusation.\u201d His lawyer, Jose Antonio Choclan, had earlier requested the case be closed, arguing that the alleged acts should be prosecuted where they occurred.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by Spanish prosecutors does not prevent the women from filing their complaint in other jurisdictions, a point also noted by the prosecutors. However, Women&#8217;s Link Worldwide explained that the complaint was initially submitted in Spain, rather than the Caribbean countries where the crimes allegedly took place, due to the nature of Spanish legislation on gender-based violence and trafficking. The two organizations called the prosecutors&#8217; decision \u201cregrettable\u201d and confirmed that the women \u201cwill continue fighting for justice and will pursue all available legal avenues,\u201d in a statement published in <em>elDiario.es<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>A Legendary Career Amidst Controversy<\/h2>\n<p>Julio Iglesias, father of fellow superstar singer Enrique Iglesias, is one of the most successful Latin artists of all time. With a career spanning decades since his 1969 debut album \u201cYo Canto,\u201d he has sold more than 300 million records in over a dozen languages. He achieved immense popularity in the U.S. and worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s, partly through duets with artists like Willie Nelson and Diana Ross. Iglesias is a Grammy winner, having received a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance in 1988 for his album \u201cUn Hombre Solo,\u201d and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>The dismissal of this high-profile case highlights the complex challenges associated with prosecuting alleged abuses that cross international borders, particularly when jurisdictional requirements are not met within the chosen legal framework. While Spanish courts have concluded their involvement, the commitment of the complainants and advocacy groups to pursue justice elsewhere underscores the ongoing pursuit of accountability in such transnational matters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spanish prosecutors have dismissed a sexual abuse and human trafficking complaint against Grammy-winning singer Julio Iglesias, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The allegations, made by two former domestic workers, reportedly occurred in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow5Nm1DA:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1919,27368,9973,24391,32016,13976,41464,43511,43512],"class_list":["post-35203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal","tag-amnesty-international","tag-bahamas","tag-dominican-republic","tag-human-trafficking","tag-julio-iglesias","tag-jurisdiction","tag-sex-abuse-allegations","tag-spanish-prosecutors","tag-womens-link-worldwide"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Julio-Iglesias.jpg","_embedded":{"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":-1,"source_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Julio-Iglesias.jpg","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}