The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has removed from teaching today, in a precautionary manner, a professor of Physics who the Provincial Court of Barcelona has sentenced to a year and a half in prison for sexual assault for two years on a doctoral student.
The sentence, which also condemns the accused, A.S., to nine years of disqualification and prohibits him from approaching and communicating with the victim, was made public last February, but the convicted person has continued to teach at the university.
UAB sources indicated that they learned of the sentence on Monday, so today they have decided to apply precautionary measures “immediately, given the seriousness of the proven facts.” Said measures consist of the “suspension of the teaching and research functions” of the professor until “there is a final sentence”.
The ratification of the sentence by the Court of Barcelona can still be appealed in cassation.
According to the ruling, reported by eldiario.es yesterday, the professor used his hierarchical superiority over the young woman to sexually harass her and became intimate with her to the point of touching her private parts inside her clothes and kissing her furtively. In the same way, “the defendant took advantage of the victim’s shyness and her inability to stand firm and prevent the events from occurring,” added the court.
The events began in 2016, when the student was unable to speak in public and the professor hugged her to comfort her. The hugs from the director of the doctoral thesis “initially comforted the victim” but “went to more” and “invaded the space” of the young woman, according to the sentence, adding that when the young woman showed her rejection, the defendant cried and argued that he needed her affection due to the loss of a child, which made it difficult for her to have a hard time setting limits and feel guilty.
According to the UAB, the sentence is the result of actions initiated in 2018 by the university itself, which, through the UAB Observatory for Equality, brought the facts to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office given that the case was “susceptible to being dealt with by the penal way”.
