Generalitat authorises public-interest prosecution over a woman’s death in Benidorm

The Consell has authorised the Generalitat’s legal service to exercise the public-interest prosecution role known as acción popular in proceedings over the death of Meriane F. D. O. in Benidorm on 27 September.

The decision, reported on 30 October, enables the regional administration to participate in a case opened over an alleged offence of homicide or murder in the context of violence against women.

The institutional initiative comes from the department responsible for Housing, Employment, Youth and Equality and aims to bring efforts together and express rejection of acts of violence against women.

The position of those under investigation

The main suspect, the victim’s partner, aged 40, was remanded in custody without bail on 30 September by Benidorm’s court dealing with violence against women; the detention order allows communication.

Two other men who were arrested were released provisionally, although they remain under investigation for a possible offence of helping conceal the events.

Pre-trial detention does not constitute a finding of guilt: the criminal responsibility of those under investigation must be determined through the judicial proceedings.

Authorisation to exercise the public-interest prosecution role is not a judgment on the events either, but a decision enabling the Generalitat to participate in the case.

The legal basis for regional intervention

Acción popular allows participation in certain criminal proceedings in defence of the public interest, without the participant needing to be the person directly harmed by the events under investigation.

It operates alongside the other parties and does not replace the functions of the public prosecutor or those of the judicial bodies responsible for investigating and deciding the case.

Article 36 of Law 9/2003 on Equality between Women and Men provides for such intervention to be proposed to the Consell following attacks causing death or serious injury to women resident in the Valencian Community.

Article 58 of Law 7/2012, meanwhile, provides for the Generalitat to exercise acción popular in proceedings involving violence against women resulting in death, as well as other circumstances established by that law.