The trial opens late

The trial of six people accused of spreading the Bar España hoax opened on Friday, 16 October, in Plaza 3 of the criminal section of the Tribunal de Instancia de Castellón. The session was due to start at 9:00, but a general outage in the regional justice network, which runs on the Webex platform, held it back by almost two hours. Preliminary objections from the parties then took more than three hours, and the judge moved the declaration of the first of the six defendants, who was to testify by videoconference, to next Tuesday, 20 October. Only three of the seven people on trial sat in the dock, while the rest followed the hearing remotely, not without problems. One defendant, asked to switch on his webcam, told the judge he had been having breakfast and did not want to be seen eating.

What the case is about

The hoax, which has circulated for around three decades, attributed a child abuse network to politicians, officials and other public figures. It started with Reinaldo Colás, a hairdresser from Benicarló who died in 2017, after a court found no crime in his abuse accusation against his ex-wife's partner. He then ran a campaign against the judge handling that case, using manipulated videos recorded in his salon and placing her at the centre of a supposed ring with satanic rituals based at Bar España. To amplify the scandal he added names, including Carlos Fabra, Francisco Camps and Mónica Oltra, to a false list of clients. The hoax went so far as to present the girls from Alcàsser as victims of the invented ring.

The six defendants, plus the editor of a digital outlet who is a civil liable party, face charges of crimes against moral integrity, injurias and calumnias with publicity. Prosecutors seek up to seven and a half years in prison for the six defendants. More than 30 witnesses are due to testify, among them several political leaders who held public posts in the Generalitat Valenciana and the Diputación de Castellón. The court has scheduled six sessions a day until 26 October.

Defences challenge the case

Defence lawyers asked for the proceedings to be annulled on several grounds, including violation of fundamental rights, failure to prosecute crimes, procedural fraud and illegal detentions. They also questioned the chain of custody of some evidence, raised the possible time-barring of the offences and asked whether the prosecution has standing to represent the victims. According to ABC, the judge rejected all the nullity requests. Javier Fernández Torres, who is defending himself, criticised the courts for not investigating Colás's original complaints. Prosecutor Javier Carceller said he would press on regardless, asking what would have happened had the prosecution not acted, and whether fake news about the case would still be circulating online.

Defendants say they regret it

The lawyers for two defendants told the court that all of them retract and are sincerely sorry for spreading false information. Juan Lankamp Riaza, speaking to reporters as he left the first session, apologised:

“I did not know the reach this would have. I apologise for the gravity of the facts.”

The defence said Lankamp Riaza had already been found liable in civil proceedings, together with Pilar Baselga, for intrusion on the right to honour. It also said one defendant, a woman, died before the trial, and that the case had undermined her health. The lawyer for Ramón Valero Consuegra, known as 'Un técnico preocupado', cited a report showing that hoax content had been removed from his website since 2016, after a search of his home. Carceller doubted the sincerity of that retraction and said it had to be personal:

“If he wants to retract, let him come, and we will be glad to hear him here in the courtroom.”

What comes next

The court has postponed the first defendant's testimony to Tuesday, 20 October, so no defendant has yet given evidence in the courtroom. More than 30 witnesses are expected, including former regional and provincial politicians whom the hoax named without evidence. The sessions continue until 26 October. The prosecution's request for up to seven and a half years and the defendants' claims of regret will be tested during that hearing period.