The Child Attention Center in Ateca has been closed, and the young people who remained in these facilities have been relocated. Five workers from the center, including the director, and four employees who worked for the Fundación Salud y Comunidad of the Grupo Lagunzu without qualifications or accreditation, have spent their first weekend in the prison of Zuera (Zaragoza). They are charged with crimes such as torture, humiliation, and sexual assault against two of the inmates. The lawyer for two of the accused has stated that his clients deny the allegations and will file a motion at the beginning of the week to request their release.
The judge in Calatayud ordered the provisional closure of the center until the facts are clarified. The Government of Aragon, which has contracted about twenty places at the center, has already relocated the minors to other facilities and will enter the case as an injured party. The judge in charge of the case has ordered the Civil Guard to locate nine minors who escaped from the center so that they can testify and determine if they were also victims of the reported abuses.
The town of Ateca, which has around 1,700 inhabitants, is in shock due to the incident. Five employees of the Child Attention Center have been arrested and accused of crimes against moral integrity, bodily harm, torture, sexual assault, corruption of minors, and belonging to a criminal group. The detainees, for whom the judge has decreed provisional imprisonment without bail, include the center’s director, Iván R.M., as well as two educators and two assistants: Mohamed B., Youssef B., Abdelilah A., and Alexandru R.A. The latter four are accused of the sexual assaults.
The complaints were made by the mothers of a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. The origin of the case lies in the complaint filed by the mother of one of the victims, a 16-year-old minor. Families of the minors in the Ateca center could not even imagine the “barbarities” their children suffered at the hands of their caregivers. This is the statement made by the mother of a young woman who reported the case. Investigations allowed for the discovery of another possible victim, a 17-year-old girl.
Both minors testified before the Civil Guard about the mistreatment and abuses suffered, including cigarette burns, beatings, sexual insults, and disproportionate restraints. The judge of the Investigating Court number 2 in Calatayud decreed the imprisonment of the detainees based on evidence and witness testimonies from the complainants, as well as from other center workers confirming the facts.
The families of the two minors hold the Government of Aragon responsible for the events, accusing it of negligence since they had custody of their children. The mother of the reporting minor claims that she did not receive a response about her daughter’s bruises from the Aragonese Institute of Social Services (IASS). She asserts that this organization told her they would ask the center, but that they “never informed her anything” from Ateca. The complainants are considering entering the case against the IASS.
The Chunta Aragonesista (CHA) has also requested the appearance of the Manager of Social Services from the Government of Aragon and demanded transparency in the management of the case, calling for immediate measures to protect minors and to review action protocols in similar centers to prevent situations like this from recurring.
Furthermore, there are suspicions that other minors may also have been victims. The judge ordered the provisional closure of the contracted center with the Aragonese Institute of Social Services (IASS) and requested the Civil Guard to locate nine escaped minors to ascertain whether they were also victims of abuse. The Government of Aragon, which has contracted about twenty places, has already relocated the minors to other facilities, including those from other communities. Additionally, the Aragonese Executive has announced that it will enter the case as an injured party while voices increasingly blame the Fundación Salud y Comunidad of the Grupo Lagunzu, the manager of the CAM in Ateca, for not investing adequately in the safety of minors.
Juan Manuel Martín, known for having defended Igor el Ruso, defends at least two of the indicted in the Ateca CAM case and will request their release this week. Martín is also the defense attorney for the parents of the baby who drowned in Ateca a little over a week ago, who are in preventive custody due to indications that it might not only be a case of involuntary manslaughter but also of intentional homicide. These events have generated deep concern and condemnation in the community, which has had a memorable 2024 after the incident last spring in which a man and his 14-year-old son died in a fire, in addition to the already mentioned death of the 14-month-old baby that occurred a little over a week ago, and this new case of assaults at the CAM.
