Spanish Crooner Julio Inglesia Hits Out At Rape Claim

Spanish crooner and hearthrob, Julio Iglesias has asked judicial authorities to throw out a complaint brought by two former employees accusing him of sexual misconduct, arguing that Spanish courts have no jurisdiction over the case, according to legal filings submitted this week by his lawyer.

The two women — a domestic worker and a physiotherapist — claim they were subjected to sexual and other forms of abuse while employed at properties owned by Iglesias in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.

The assaults were alleged to have taken place in 2021 at his mansions in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, according to a joint investigation published elDiario.es newspaper in Spain and Univision television.

The report cited allegations from a domestic worker and a physiotherapist who accused Iglesias of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, mistreatment and, in one case, rape.

“I felt like an object, like a slave in the 21st century,” one of the women, identified as Rebeca, told US-based Spanish-language television Univision.

“He would touch me in every possible way,” added the Dominican woman, who was 22 years old at the time of the alleged incidents.

In a criminal complaint lodged in Spain earlier this month, they allege that Iglesias engaged in sexual harassment, routinely monitored their mobile phones and limited their freedom to leave the residences where they worked.

Iglesias’s lawyer, José Antonio Choclán, told Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, that any alleged offences should be pursued in the countries where they are said to have taken place.

He urged prosecutors to ‘immediately close’ the preliminary inquiry and to ‘end the media campaign causing serious harm’ to the 82-year-old singer’s reputation.

‘The Spanish prosecutor cannot unilaterally assume the role of a universal prosecutor, nor can Spanish courts, and it is also not permissible for the victim to choose the jurisdiction that is most convenient for them,’ Choclán wrote.

Women´s Link Worldwide, a feminist nonprofit organization that advances women’s rights through legal action and is championing the action, said the case was filed in Spain because of the country’s robust laws on gender-based violence and because Iglesias holds Spanish nationality.

Iglesias, one of the most successful Spanish singers  of the last 50 years, is a Grammy winner who has sold more than 300 million records during a career spanning several decades.