Montelongo, after his acquittal in the last part of the Montecarlo case: "It doesn't give back 14 years of life"

José Montelongo, current director of the School of Health and Social Services of the Canary Islands and former mayor and former councilor of Arrecife, offered a press conference on Friday morning to analyze his acquittal in the last piece that remained to be judged in the Montecarlo case.

The press conference was held at the Municipal Archive of Arrecife, the same place where he announced his resignation as mayor in 2015. In this space, Montelongo pointed out that he seeks to close a chapter that has marked "an important part of his life."

The former mayor of Arrecife emphasized that although the judicial process concludes with two acquittal sentences issued by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, it does not return "the impact that a fourteen-year process has had on his personal, family, and institutional life."

During his speech, he explained that he is making this appearance because "he needed it for his mental health." At the same time, he recalled that the decision to resign in 2015 was "due exclusively to a sense of institutional responsibility," while reiterating that "he never stopped defending his innocence."

Likewise, he recalled that, when he submitted his resignation, "no order to open an oral trial had yet been issued regarding the pieces that affected him, according to the chronology of the procedure."

The human cost of a fourteen-year procedure

The former mayor focused much of his speech on the human cost of a process that lasted fourteen years. Thus, he explained that no judicial resolution can return "the time elapsed nor completely repair the wear and tear that a situation of these characteristics causes in a person and in their closest environment."

In that context, he especially remembered his father, who died before knowing the outcome of the procedure, and apologized to his family for the suffering they also had to endure during all these years.

The importance of preserving the presumption of innocence

During his speech, the current director of the School of Health and Social Services of the Canary Islands, invited the population to reflect on the presumption of innocence.

"Throughout the procedure, public statements were made that conveyed to the public the idea that his conduct had been criminal and fully conscious before there was a judicial ruling, and he maintained that an investigation cannot become an early conviction," Montelongo insisted in a statement.

Montelongo has insisted that his appearance was not intended to demand accountability nor to reopen a political debate, but rather the need to share the personal consequences of a procedure that has conditioned a large part of his life and to claim the value of the presumption of innocence as one of the essential principles of the rule of law.

Before concluding, José Montelongo dedicated a few words of thanks to "all the people who maintained their trust during these years and, expressly, to Coalición Canaria for the support received when he decided to join their political project."