Four players from the Real Madrid squad were yesterday arrested by the Civil Guard, accused of an alleged crime of revealing secrets of a sexual nature, according to El Confidencial, in a news story later confirmed by the Efe agency. After testifying before the judge, the magistrate released them, but first ordered the disposal of their mobile phones.
The Civil Guard is leading the investigation, which focuses on a complaint filed on September 6. According to the complaint, filed by the mother of a minor under the age of 16 in the municipality of Mogán (Gran Canaria), three players from the Canarian academy shared a sexual video with the minor without her consent. According to the complainant, the minor had consented to sexual relations with one of the arrested, but not to the dissemination of the video.
Although the identity of those arrested has not been revealed, they are three players from the academy, the subsidiary and the third team. According to the investigators, there could be those involved in the first team.
Minutes later, Real Madrid increased the number of people involved in the case to four. He did so by very disingenuously communicating that he was “aware that a player from Castilla and three players from Real Madrid C had given a statement to the Civil Guard in relation to a complaint about the alleged dissemination of a private video on WhatsApp”.
“When the club has detailed knowledge of the facts, it will adopt the appropriate measures”, concluded the white statement.
According to initial reports, the four arrested shared a video of sexual content on WhatsApp in which the minor appeared. All of them were arrested in the Ciutat Esportiva of Real Madrid yesterday morning to be taken to the police stations and questioned.
They are accused of an alleged crime of revealing secrets. The Civil Guard asked to confiscate the mobile phones of all those involved to analyze the images. Well into the afternoon, the judge ordered the release of data, before dictating his freedom.
As established in article 197.7 of the Penal Code, reviewed these months through the law of only yes is yes, those involved face “a prison sentence of three months to one year or a fine of 6 to 12 months” : they are accused of disseminating, revealing or giving to third parties, without authorization, any image whose dissemination “seriously undermines personal privacy”, even if it has been obtained with their consent in a home or in a place “outside of the scope of the gaze of third parties”.
Article 197.7 also places a greater burden on whoever initiates the chain of dissemination. According to the law on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, approved on August 25, there is also a penalty of “a fine of one to three months to anyone who, having received the images or audiovisual recordings, disseminates, reveals or transfers them to third parties without the consent of the affected person”.
