Magistrate Arturo Zamarriego has ordered the arrest of actress Elisa Mouliaá after she failed to appear for her judicial summons for the third time this Monday, where she was to testify as an investigated party in the case for alleged slander against former political leader Íñigo Errejón.
In a ruling to which Europa Press has had access, the judge orders a "search and capture order" for the "arrest and presentation" of Mouliaá before the court "in order to be heard in a statement as an investigated party."
The investigating judge specifies in the resolution that, "once the above is done, the investigated party shall be released if she is not deprived of her liberty for any other legal cause or reason," and sets that the arrest warrant will remain in effect for a maximum period of five years.
In addition, the judge orders the deduction of testimony from the proceedings, that is, to issue copies of the proceedings to be sent to the dean's office, in order to "proceed with their registration and subsequent distribution in accordance with established rules," given the possibility that the actress's repeated non-appearance "could constitute a crime of disobedience to judicial authority."
Possible crime of disobedience for absences
Zamarriego recalls in his ruling that on May 14, he ordered Mouliaá to be summoned as an investigated party "with express warning" that she could be arrested and taken to the judicial headquarters if she did not appear, "with deduction of testimony in case the facts constituted a crime of disobedience to authority."
As detailed by the magistrate, "the investigated party has not appeared at the judicial summons made to her despite her summons being legally valid and without alleging a just cause that prevents her from doing so."
Despite being summoned this Monday for the third time within this procedure, the interpreter did not appear, alleging that she was working in the Middle East, "where communications are limited or nonexistent."
She also did not attend the two previous summons, scheduled for March 27 and April 24. On this latter date, Mouliaá justified her absence by explaining that she was suffering from "a significant anxious-depressive condition aggravated by her judicial and media situation" which prevented her from testifying.
The forensic doctor saw her "fully capable of testifying"
However, in another of the rulings in the proceedings, the judge emphasized that the actress was examined on April 26 by a forensic doctor who went to her home, "who reported that she was fully capable of testifying."
On the last occasion, the magistrate rejected Mouliaá's request to suspend the hearing, considering that it was "one more link in the procedural strategy that the defendant has been following to avoid appearing before the investigating magistrate to be heard".
In one of his rulings, Zamarriego even reproached that the actress "tries to 'set up' by any means a cause for challenge that is not provided for by law, which pursues no other purpose than to delay the proceedings and consequently is being carried out in a clear and manifest fraud of law".
The origin of the case lies in the lawsuit filed by Íñigo Errejón against Mouliaá, after the actress accused him on television of having extorted two witnesses in the case investigating an alleged sexual assault offense by the former politician against her.