Vanessa Mendoza Cortés faces a defamation trial this Monday after denouncing to the United Nations in 2019 that Andorra does not allow abortions under any circumstances, a situation that, she assures, is possible because the country “is governed by the Bishop of Urgell, misogyny and the extreme right”.
“Woman, feminist, lesbian and gypsy,” Mendoza assured in an interview with EFE that all of these identities “have a lot to do” with the trial she faces before a “parliamentary theocracy,” as she defines her country, which she remembers has as heads of state to the ‘co-princes of Andorra’, that is, the Bishop of Urgell, Joan-Enric Vives, and the president of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Although, as she explained a few hours after going to court, her complaint was signed by the head of Government himself, Xavier Espot, for whom this matter, according to this psychologist specializing in reproductive and sexual rights, “has already become something personal.” “.
It all started in October 2019, when the activist from the Stop Violències association participated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), where the periodic review of Andorra was carried out. before the United Nations Committee, and submitted a report critical of the protection of women and girls and the harmful effect of the current total ban on abortion.
“In Andorra, if a girl is raped, they tell you that she cannot have an abortion,” draws attention to Mendoza, who denounces that the reality is that women have to travel to Catalonia to terminate the pregnancy and, depending on the gestational state, pay between 300 and 8,000 euros.
NGOs such as Amnesty International have shown their support for Mendoza and have condemned the situation of sexual and reproductive rights in Andorra, as well as, this week, the Council of Europe itself.
The institution’s human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, has harshly criticized the process against Mendoza which, in her opinion, restricts the freedom of expression of the activist and other people in Andorra who defend similar causes.
For this reason, Mijatovic demands in a letter that the Andorran authorities take “the necessary measures” to guarantee the defense of women’s rights in the country.
When asked how the legislation could be so disparate in a country that shares a border with two states of the European Union, the activist was pessimistic that the situation could change “as long as a Bishop governs.”
“We share a language with Catalonia, but we do not have the same rights. We are your Marina d’Or. People spend the weekend, but they do not open a newspaper and see how we live,” laments Mendoza, who adds: “you come to buy perfumes to Andorra and we go down to buy rights such as abortion.
For his defamation trial, which initially led to charges that led to prison, although these have already fallen from the requests of the Prosecutor’s Office, he faces a fine of 6,000 euros, compensation of 6,000 euros more, in addition to six months of disqualification. .
The judicial hanger is, specifically, article 325 of the Andorran Penal Code, which punishes anyone who “with knowledge of their falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth, publicly makes accusations related to the actions of the General Council, the Government, the Superior Council of Justice, the judicial bodies, the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the common ones that may harm its prestige”.
A trial, which will begin this Monday in the Batllia (Andorran Court), which for the accused is clearly “disproportionate” but from which she does not expect to be acquitted in a judicial process that, she emphasizes, “is of a head of Government against “a citizen who has stood up for democracy and pacifism.”
“They will go after me, they will condemn me, they will want to send a message that we should not raise our voices,” predicts the activist, who points out that many Andorran women (some even publicly) thank her for raising her voice.
Although she does not want to give personal information, her organization, Stop Violències, serves about 40 women a year, most of them “poor”, temporary, and many sexually assaulted by their partners or ex-partners, a situation that is not specifically contemplated either, she says, in the Andorran Penal Code.
