Natalia de la Nuez has stated for the first time before the Police that she has been a victim of mistreatment by the former socialist minister Juan Fernando López Aguilar. This is stated in information published this Tuesday by the newspaper El Mundo, which indicates that the MEP's ex-partner called the National Police Family Care Service on the 9th and asserted that during her marriage López Aguilar mistreated her and is currently threatening her, although she finally did not file a complaint. After the news broke, the former minister's defense sent a statement to the media stating that his client is a victim of "harassment" and "extortion" by his ex-partner and announces that he will take legal action in this regard.
In that telephone conversation and a subsequent interview at police headquarters, De la Nuez stated, according to El Mundo, that she had suffered attacks during her marriage. She also stated that, after the case came to light, she has felt "pressured" by López Aguilar, who claims to have "banged" on the door of her new home on several occasions. In addition, she claims that the complaint filed by her son Gorka de la Nuez, in which he alleged that the bruise on his mother was the result of an aggression by the MEP and which he later withdrew, was "true".
De la Nuez's call occurred on the same day that the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court requested the dismissal of the case, which is investigating these alleged abuses at the request of the head of the Court of Violence against Women number 2 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Until then, De la Nuez had denied to the authorities that she had been a victim of abuse.
In fact, the events were investigated as a result of two attempted fires that took place in the house that López Aguilar, De la Nuez and their two minor children previously shared. Based on the statements collected by the Police, an investigation was initiated, in which the Court of Violence against Women had statements from the two sisters of López Aguilar's still wife and from the neighbors, as well as police reports, but never a complaint from Natalia de la Nuez.
The politician will take "legal measures" in the face of the "lynching"
After the publication of the news this Tuesday, the defense team of Juan Fernando López Aguilar (the lawyers Luisa Estévez and María Rosa Díaz-Bertrana) have sent a statement to the press stating that De la Nuez's statements are "false and contradictory to all the previous ones".
They denounce "the harassment and deliberate extortion that he suffers continuously from her" and announce "legal measures to end the judicial and media lynching with which she had already threatened him if he continued with the divorce process."
Luisa Estévez explains that "López Aguilar is deeply concerned about the well-being of his children, whom he has not been able to see for weeks, because his ex-wife has prevented him from doing so, breaching the divorce decree where the visitation and communication regime is established." "He flatly and emphatically denies the events that his ex-wife is inventing again to harm him, with the manifest intention of preventing him from exercising his public activity with dignity and living his personal and emotional life in freedom." She also denounces that "the insulting messages and express threats of police and judicial actions based on false facts are constant, at any time, addressed to him and to third parties".
"For this reason, we have decided to immediately request the legal measures that put an end once and for all to this unbearable personal, professional and media aggression with which she has decided to do all the possible damage to López Aguilar," the statement adds. The defense considers that the prosecutor's request for dismissal has "unleashed her to try to keep alive in the courts a great lie" that has caused a "great damage" to the "honor and prestige" of the politician, "in addition to seriously offending women who really suffer abuse."
They also refer to the beginning of the investigation after the fires in the house, stating that De la Nuez was then in a "clear state of intoxication, according to the police report", in response to which, they add, "and to defend herself from possible negligence, she claimed to have suffered abuse in the past." Thus, the lawyers point out that "during the three months that these judicial proceedings based on false facts have lasted, Mr. López Aguilar has observed a scrupulous silence thinking only of protecting the best interests of his minor children." "But we are not willing to consent to a twisted use of the Law against Gender Violence, which he defends firmly, with the spurious motivation of harming his public activity and curtailing his personal freedom," they conclude.
She claims that she feels "pressured by him" since the case became public
According to El Mundo, on the 9th, López Aguilar's ex-wife stated before the Police inspector that she had been a victim of physical aggression and that she currently felt threatened and harassed. According to the police report to which the newspaper refers, Natalia assures "that she has had to change her address due to the strong social pressure that motivated the fact that [the case] came to light." She adds, in addition, that since the complaint was filed, the politician "had banged on the door of her new house" and claims that she feels "pressured by him." "In addition, she provides information on multiple breaches of the visitation regime," the report continues.
According to the report reproduced by the newspaper, the MEP's ex-partner "does feel like a victim of gender violence" but had "hopes that once a judicially approved regulatory agreement was in place, the problems with her ex-partner would be resolved, which was not the case."
Refuses to file a complaint
On the other hand, Natalia de la Nuez also asserted before the Police that she has images on her phone of the injuries that López Aguilar's aggressions would have supposedly caused her when they lived together. The proceedings state that "she wants to contribute them to the case." She also refers to the complaint filed by her son, Gorka de la Nuez, in which he stated that his mother had been a victim of abuse after verifying that she had a black eye, and which he later withdrew. De la Nuez now assures that that complaint was true, that the MEP punched her, causing the bruise, and that "they lied when they stated that it had been an accident, so as not to harm him politically."
Despite all this, the police report to which El Mundo alludes indicates that Natalia de la Nuez expressed her refusal to report all these events. According to the newspaper, after his ex-wife decided to report the events, López Aguilar appeared at the police station to speak with the inspector who attended to De la Nuez, to whom he narrated that he is suffering threats from her, although he did not want to report it then either, "for fear of leaks to the press of the possible news." But he did "want to inform the Police of the existence of multiple threatening and insulting messages" from De la Nuez both to himself and to his new sentimental partner, he adds.
According to the newspaper, it was the following day when Natalia de la Nuez went to the police station, where she was given an "extensive interview" that was not recorded in a statement, since she did not want to file a complaint. "Natalia expressed her desire that, despite the situation of violence she has suffered during her marriage, the case that is still open be definitively archived," the report concludes.