Algeciras mayor Landaluce, under investigation, insists he is innocent after court testimony

The testimony

Algeciras mayor José Ignacio Landaluce testified on Friday, 23 October, before the judge of the Violence against Women court number 2 in Algeciras, appearing as a person under investigation over an alleged sexual offence. The session lasted about an hour and a half, and according to judicial sources he answered questions from the judge and from every party. Afterwards he told reporters that his account was accurate and that he is innocent.

I have told the facts just as they happened.

He said he felt tired after the session and described the stakes in stark terms.

You are risking your image, your neighbours' trust and that political and social death.

He said he felt calmer now that the case sits within the justice system, where he believes he will not be drawn into the threats and games he says were directed at him, and he criticised the press coverage. He also said the complaint runs to 110 pages containing a great deal of repetitive text, which he attributed to artificial intelligence. He said he had only received those pages on Tuesday, 20 October.

The complaint and the timeline

The complaint was filed on 12 October by a woman who is a member of Nuevas Generaciones del PP and holds a municipal staff post. According to her account, Landaluce, a practising doctor, touched her breasts on 10 July during a meeting at the town hall, using the pretext of explaining a medical examination. An earlier complaint, filed in September, had come to light before the 12 October filing. Before that, she met the PP's provincial president, Bruno García, to describe the events, after which the party's local government team was convened and urged the mayor to resign or leave the team. On Thursday, 22 October, the complainant and two councillors gave evidence as witnesses. One of them, Patricia Bueno, was the complainant's superior. The other, Jacinto Muñoz, a former first deputy mayor who has since been named the censure motion's candidate for mayor, corroborated the complainant's account, which conflicts directly with Landaluce's testimony. The judge leading the case, Alba Serrano, had summoned the mayor as a person under investigation on 16 October.

Political fallout

Twelve of the 15 PP councillors asked the mayor to resign, while three opposed that request. When Landaluce refused to step aside, the 12 left the governing team and presented a censure motion against him together with Vox. The three councillors who stayed were named deputy mayors of a government that now has four members. On Monday, 19 October, Landaluce announced that he will leave office on Sunday, 25 October, and he is still weighing whether to remain as a councillor. Asked whether the case could still be running when the municipal elections take place in May, he said he did not see the two as incompatible. He also said he had been threatened if he did not leave, but declined to go beyond what he had told the judge. One account puts the end of his term at the censure vote on Wednesday, 28 October, rather than on 25 October.

What happens next

Landaluce said he wants the proceedings to advance quickly, arguing that an accusation carries its own punishment when the case drags on.

In the end, whatever happens, you have already been accused, tried and convicted before the trial has even been held.

No precautionary measures have been requested in the case, so the next step is the judge's written order on whether there are enough indications to formally charge him. Whether he leaves on 25 October or at the censure vote, his mayoralty is ending, and the municipal elections are due in May.