King Juan Carlos I obtains immunity in the United Kingdom for the harassment lawsuit of Corinna Larsen

The British justice recognized on Tuesday the emeritus king Juan Carlos de Borbon immunity in England until his abdication in 2014, which the father of the current Spanish monarch claimed trying to mitigate a lawsuit for harassment filed by his ex-lover in London.

Three judges at the London Court of Appeal ruled that the “alleged conduct prior to the abdication” it is “immune to the jurisdiction of the courts of this country”.

LOOK: The sins of Juan Carlos: how his lover’s accusations could lead to a trial of the emeritus king of Spain

The 84-year-old ex-monarch’s legal team had defended since 2021 that he could not be tried in England under the UK State Immunity Act 1978.

However, a London High Court judge had denied him that in March, arguing that he was no longer a member of the royal house and that even before his abdication, lThe “acts of harassment” of which the German-Danish businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, 57, with whom he had an extramarital affair between 2004 and 2009, accuses him, did not benefit from said protection.

The Court of Appeal later agreed to re-examine the matter but only while he was head of state.

Paralyzed until the resolution of this appeal, The lawsuit for harassment may now, however, continue on a date to be determined, since the emeritus king was not authorized to claim inviolability for the period after his abdication.

Accusations of threats and harassment

Appointed head of state in 1975 on the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos I was respected for decades inside and outside Spain for allowing the return of democracy to the country.

But a series of scandals beginning in 2012, including his relationship with larsenthey demolished his image, leading him first to abdicate in favor of his son, Felipe VI, and in August 2020, to go into exile in the United Arab Emirates, where he has lived since then.

Denouncing eight years of threats, intrusions, monitoring, hacking and defamation, the businesswoman –divorced from a German prince and also known by her maiden name larsen— filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2020 for harassment in London, where he lives.

She assures that Juan Carlos harassed her since 2012 seeking to recover “gifts” that include 65 million euros (a similar amount in dollars).

He claims compensation for psychological damage and removal measures. There is no risk of jail or extradition to the king emeritus, who denies all the accusations.

Claiming immunity, the former king’s lawyer, Tim Otty, defended in November that this “is a procedural obstacle, it does not take into account at all the legality or morality of the alluded conduct.”

Said “conduct continues to be attributable to the State even if the State agent acts with abuse of power,” he added before the judges of the London Court of Appeal.

They had to estimate, for example, whether when requesting the services of General Félix Sanz Roldán –then director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI)–, who according to Sayn-Wittgenstein threatened her and sent agents to harass her, Juan Carlos did so. as head of state resorting to the head of espionage or if it was a personal favor between friends.

Lover or figurehead?

The lawyer of larsenJames Lewis, then insisted that immunity only applied to acts performed “in the performance of official duties” and stressed that the king of Spain has no control or authority over the CNI.

Recently, the businesswoman’s lawyers modified their claim, eliminating all reference to the Spanish secret services to imply that Juan Carlos and Sanz Roldán acted privately.

The case was clouded by the publication of a controversial podcast entitled “Corinna and the King”, in which London journalists Bradley Hope and Tom Wright recount, with testimonies from Larsen and other interviewees, a romance that collapsed “opened the window to a dangerous world full of greed, corruption and crime.”

In court documents filed in November, Larsen’s lawyers say that even if Juan Carlos gave him the 65 million Alleging “an affection for her and her children that she could not reflect in her will”, her intention was actually to hide them from the Spanish tax authorities, using her as a figurehead.

And they affirm that the alleged harassment began in 2012, when seeking to access said money.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.