The Madrid municipal police arrested director and playwright Ramón Paso this weekend for sexual assault on a minor. The playwright, who has another case open for sexual violence against other women, groped a 15-year-old girl on the Paseo del Prado in Madrid, one of the city’s main arteries, in the afternoon, right in the city center. Paso was intercepted by a patrol near this avenue and identified himself as her theater teacher. Afterwards, he was taken to the National Police’s Family and Women’s Assistance Unit (Ufam), which will now continue the investigation. The girl’s family has filed a complaint about these events.
According to the police report, first published by El Mundo and confirmed by EL PAÍS, it was a couple of pedestrians who stopped a police patrol and alerted them that they had observed an adult acting suspiciously with a girl who appeared to be a minor. In their description, they said the man was touching the girl’s legs, had even sat her on his lap, and had kissed her. With the description provided by the pedestrians, the officers intercepted Paso and arrested him. He admitted to this contact but claimed the girl was his theater class student and that he was calming her down after a distressing event. She initially gave the same version.
Once at the national police station, the officers contacted the girl’s parents, who were surprised because they knew Paso and did not know their daughter was with him that afternoon. The girl ended up admitting that she had had relations with the playwright, and the parents filed a complaint about these events. Specialized officers will conduct an investigation, for which the detainee’s mobile phone was seized. In Spain, the legal age of consent is 16 years.
The Prosecutor’s Complaint in 2024
In April 2024, it became public that the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor’s Office had filed a complaint against the playwright for sexual assaults on 13 women after the lawyer representing them, Luisa Estévez Martínez, informed the Public Ministry of the situation. At the end of that month, on April 25, the Madrid Court of Instruction number 29 opened proceedings and, two years later, it remains in the investigation phase.
According to sources close to the case, the procedure is progressing slowly. So far, the victims have been interviewed, but the accused and the witnesses presented by the defense have not yet been summoned. The same sources assure that the circumstances of the playwright’s arrest last Saturday and the account reported by the media correspond to what the complainants in the case have narrated.
In the Prosecutor’s document, accessed by this newspaper, a pattern was described not only of behavior but also of victim selection. Women “aged between 18 and 28 years during the years 2019 until April 2023,” plus a case from 2014, and “a complaint that could not be ratified because the victim lives outside Madrid, for events that occurred when she was a minor.”
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According to that Prosecutor’s document, they were “very young, in precarious economic situations, belonging to broken families or families residing in other provinces and therefore alone in Madrid, some with previous traumatic experiences, with hardly any professional or sexual experience and with the hope and dream of becoming actresses” whom Ramón Paso, now a 50-year-old playwright, “recruited” through castings with a “goal” that responded “to an interest other than theatrical.” That interest was, according to the Public Ministry, “to access these young women to guarantee the satisfaction of his sexual desires through exploitation, violence, intimidation and/or abuse of trust depending on the case, turning them into objects of his sexual pleasure.”
Long Career
Ramón Paso, born in Madrid in 1976, is the grandson of playwright Alfonso Paso and great-grandson of writer Enrique Jardiel Poncel. His long professional career has been closely linked to the family legacy, with versions and adaptations of texts by his ancestors, mainly comedies on commercial stages. Since the case became known, none of his works have been performed again. At that time, the Infanta Isabel theater in Madrid had Jardiel enamorado, written and directed by Paso, on its bill. The production company announced its cancellation the same afternoon, after actor Pepe Viyuela announced his withdrawal from the cast. The Reina Victoria and Lara theaters also suspended the performances Paso had scheduled in their venues.
However, the author has kept his Paso Azorín company active, which he founded in 2012 and directs alongside Ana Azorín. Regular collaborators also include actresses Ángela Peirat, Inés Kerzan, and Ana Azorín. All of them issued a joint statement publicly supporting him after the complaints. Additionally, the Éride publishing house released his text El mensaje last February, which was presented on March 24 at La Livrería, a space linked to Éride. In this same venue, his team has offered dramatized readings of the works Usted tiene ojos de mujer fatal, by Jardiel Poncela, and Dos locas de remate, by Paso himself.
The phone number 016 assists victims of gender-based violence, their families, and their environment 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 53 different languages. The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be deleted from the device. Contact can also be made via email at016-online@igualdad.gob.esand by WhatsApp at 600 000 016. Minors can contact the ANAR Foundation phone at 900 20 20 10. In an emergency, call 112 or the National Police (091) and Civil Guard (062) numbers. If calling is not possible, the ALERTCOPS app can be used to send an alert signal to the police with geolocation.
