Mónica Oltra, who was vice-president of the País Valencià until her resignation on June 21, spokesperson for the Consell and Minister of Equality and Policies, will have to declare on September 19 as accused of the alleged cover-up of the sexual abuse of her ex-husband to a minor under guardianship.
Why is Oltra blamed?
The ex-husband of the former Valencian president, Luis Eduardo Ramírez, was convicted of sexually abusing Teresa, a minor under guardianship at the Generalitat reception center where he worked, between 2016 and 2017. He was sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison.
Oltra was charged by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) so that the investigating judge, Vicente Rios, take a statement and thus be able to finish the investigation. The complaint that gave rise to the case for the alleged crimes of prevarication, abandonment of minors and omission of duty was established by the founder of Vox in the Valencian Country, Cristina Segui.
Seguí is also president of Gobiernate, the association that has sued a dozen officials and technicians from the Ministry of Equality and Inclusive Policies, for allegedly having tried to protect the educator. Another of those involved in this complaint is José Luis Roberto, leader of the Spain 2000 ultra party.
Just a week ago the minor complainant, Teresa, assured that her far-right mentors and lawyers promised her a home and a job and that, after obtaining the resignation of the former Valencian vice president, “they have left her lying.”
But it was the report of the superior prosecutor of the Valencian Community, Theresa Gisbert, on June 3, the trigger for Oltra’s forced resignation just three weeks later. A devastating report because of the description it makes of the behavior of the public services directed by Oltra.
The prosecutor considered that Oltra dictated a “verbal order” to “distort the credibility of the minor”, admitted to a private reception center but with an agreement with the Generalitat. The young woman, born in 2002, was 14 years old when she reported, in February 2017, to a social worker that an educator on the night shift, Luis Eduardo Ramírez, was abusing her. That worker was the husband of Monica Oltra at that time, they subsequently parted ways.
Prosecutor Gisbert described in her letter of more than 60 pages how neither from the reception center nor from the ministry that Oltra directed, with competences in the guardianship of minors, “neither the Police nor the
The Prosecutor’s Office for Minors, nor the Administration of Justice” the alleged abuses, later confirmed by the Justice.
Luis Eduardo Ramírez was removed for a few days but was later reinstated to his job, while the girl was evaluated by a psychologist from the Minors’ Section of the Ministry of Equality, who determined that his claim was not credible.
The prosecutor pointed out in this regard that the full name of Oltra’s husband did not appear in the internal file of the shelter, only louis r. and added that “it is hardly credible that they did not inform him [de Mónica Oltra] from the beginning, and even more so, when her husband was also temporarily suspended”.
four months of silence
Four months later, the young woman, taking advantage of the presence of two police officers in the center, revealed to them that a worker had abused her. “A certain Luis, of whom he does not want to say more and of whom it is difficult for him to speak because of the fear
that this arouses in him, since he has a relative who is an important position within a Ministry and that it appears on TV”. The agents communicated the facts to their superior and the Prosecutor’s Office denounced Luis Eduardo Ramírez.
The prosecutor stressed that “it is from this date when the issue leaves the internal sphere of the Ministry of Equality of the Generalitat Valenciana. More than four months after the communication of the facts by the minor.
Until then neither the Police, nor the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors, nor the Administration of Justice knew anything.
Once the court issued precautionary measures against Luis Eduardo Ramírez, the General Directorate for Children and Adolescents ordered, on August 8, 2017, the opening of an informative file “to verify, where appropriate, the veracity of the facts and that this General Directorate be informed of the actions carried out”. Mónica Oltra assures that she found out about the events on August 4, 2017.
A controversial dossier
“Given the development and content of the file, at the level of evidence, more
it seems that it was initiated in order to release from responsibilities
to the Generalitat Valenciana and to the people and organizations that exercised or intervened in the guardianship of the minor. Curiously, the file was concluded considering the Instructor that the teen’s testimony was not credible“, stated in the prosecutor’s report.
The letter mentioned a “guiding idea” that would be the “verbal order” given by Oltra from the moment the case is prosecuted. “It is deduced, at the circumstantial level, the existence of a guideline for action on the part of all (authorities, officials and people involved) to diminish the importance and hide the abuses”, explains the prosecutor.
For Teresa Gisbert, there is a “strong indication” that said verbal order was made by Minister Oltra in the fact that all those who intervened and who are also charged – thirteen officials and senior officials – “always maintained the same exculpatory version of the Equality Council.
“It is impossible for officials of such a diverse nature and category,
from technicians in minors to psychologists, service heads and center and territorial directors unanimously maintained the same version of the facts, which constitutes a strong indication of the meaning of said verbal order that shows its arbitrary and unjust character, lacking any justification and support in
Law”.
In her letter, the prosecutor Teresa Gisbert, requests that “as many procedures as are necessary to complete the investigation of the facts and determine the degree of participation of the appraised person” be carried out.
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