Britain’s Court of Appeal, in its civil division, this Tuesday granted immunity to King Emeritus Juan Carlos I for his actions leading up to his abdication in 2014, from proceedings against him in the United Kingdom. The alleged harassment he subjected his former lover, Corinna zu Sain-Wittgenstein-Sain.
The court accepted Emeritus’ motion to argue that his actions between April 2012 and June 18, 2014 did not fall within his personal sphere, so it is appropriate to grant him immunity during that period and proceed with the trial against him. His actions after his resignation. According to the businessman, Juan Carlos I began “a pattern of behavior amounting to harassment” beginning in 2012 and continuing until the date of the lawsuit. In other words, it would continue until he lost his constitutional privilege by resigning in 2014.
Although the trial is expected to take place in the middle of next year, this Tuesday’s opinion will leave out of the process some of the actions most damaging to the cause of Emeritus, especially the alleged harassment and spying maneuvers. It was led by the then head of the Center for National Intelligence (CNI), Felix Sanz Roldan.
According to a published document obtained by EFE, Sanz Roldan “between April and June 2012, acting under the direction or with the consent of the defendant, coordinated an undercover operation to enter and search the plaintiff’s office and apartment in Monaco.” , for which he had the cover of the Monegasque security company and CNI agents. Similarly, the general’s alleged threat to a woman in a London hotel on May 5, 2012 is excluded from the trial.
When it is explained that these acts were carried out by Sanz Roldán “under the direction or with the consent” of the Emeritus, the Court considers that “whatever his alleged personal or improper motivation” that “must necessarily lead to the conclusion” that these facts were subject to sovereign immunity.
The decision rests crucially on the conviction of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, when it was determined that “immunity belongs to the state and therefore can only be suppressed by the state itself.”
The ruling reverses London’s High Court, which ruled in March last year that Juan Carlos I did not have immunity between 2012 and 2020, the period in which Corina has accused him of harassment either personally or through those around him. On July 18, British magistrates allowed Juan Carlos I’s lawyers to appeal the judge’s decision, but they limited it to events that took place between 2012 and 2014, when he was still head of state. The magistrates realized that in the events that would take place after the abdication, the British judge was right to discount immunity.
The businessman dates the alleged harassment from 2012 to 2020. According to the lawsuit, Juan Carlos I abused her after they ended their relationship. First to try to get him back and then to take revenge to hurt him in his work. According to Larsen, he was followed and threatened with the use of state agents to intimidate him and his family.
Source: El Diario
