The Sala de lo Militar of the Tribunal Supremo has upheld a disciplinary penalty against a sergeant of the Guardia Civil for serious negligence. According to the ruling, which has now become public, during an operation in June 2023, to provide support or protection to a woman affected by partner violence. The woman was attacked again later that same day. The judgment has been Spain published as a recent legal ruling by the Military Chamber and was reported by 20minutos citing EFE reported.
The deployment began after an emergency call about domestic violence. The sergeant arrived at the woman’s home, spoke with her and, according to the court’s reasoning, learned that the alleged perpetrator was her partner, who was not at the property when the officer arrived. The officer advised the woman to file a complaint and seek medical assistance. However, he neither ensured that she was accompanied immediately nor arranged provisional protective measures. The woman later returned home without a police escort and was attacked there again. In the judges’ view, this sequence amounted to a breach of duty through failure to take the required protective precautions.
The disciplinary measure, now upheld, had previously been imposed within the Guardia Civil. The sergeant challenged the decision before the competent military courts. Criminal investigations into the same events, launched in parallel, were discontinued; the judgment stresses that disciplinary liability may exist independently of criminal prosecution.
In its reasoning, the Sala de lo Militar emphasises that the officer failed adequately to assess the specific risk and did not take the obvious steps to prevent the woman from being put at risk again. Particular weight was given to the fact that the woman was registered in the VioGénsystem, which provides for specific risk parameters and protection protocols in cases of violence against women. In the court’s view, in such circumstances—and particularly when the alleged perpetrator is absent but has not been formally arrested—measures such as an escort, an immediate protection order or close follow-up should have been put in place.
The decision underlines the duty of service personnel to take risk indicators into account consistently and actively arrange protection. It joins a body of case law penalising official failures to prevent harm in cases of gender-based violence. It can be expected that Guardia Civil command authorities and units will further strengthen their internal procedures and training on risk assessment and the implementation of VioGén protocols.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).