The former Minister of the Sea of the Xunta, Alfonso Villares, appeared this Thursday at a hotel in Santiago to announce that the judicial case in which he was accused of sexual assault has been definitively dismissed. Villares, who resigned from his position in June 2025 after being prosecuted by the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia, will request to rejoin the PP. After his resignation, he was honored with a farewell by the Government of Alfonso Rueda, but he considers that his “good name” has been “unjustly damaged” and has demanded that the opposition apologize to him.
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Villares was reported in February 2025 by the presenter and model Paloma Lago, whose identity was revealed by the politician’s circle on the day he resigned. Rueda kept him in office for four months despite knowing about the complaint. When the Superior Court, responsible for the case due to his privileged status, admitted the matter and announced it would begin proceedings, Villares submitted his resignation. The investigation was then taken over by a court in Ferrol before which the former Minister testified on September 15. Based on the results of the “analyses, examinations, and clinical tests” and the statements of specialist doctors, the judge ruled out that the politician, a veterinarian by profession, had assaulted the complainant in December 2024 using chemical submission.
The dismissal issued by court number 2 of Ferrol has been ratified by the A Coruña Court of Appeal. According to Villares this Thursday, the Prosecutor’s Office has supported the measure and the complainant has not appealed. The court finds a “lack of evidence.” The former Minister, who did not take questions, did not clarify whether he will return to active politics. “I will dedicate myself to working to restore my image and honor,” he limited himself to saying about his future. He considers that he has suffered “a deep” and “irreparable” damage.
Villares has complained that there were “political leaders” who decided to “ignore” his right to the presumption of innocence. “When politics is dedicated to condemning without trial, the guarantees of the whole society are broken,” he argued. “What I expect is reflection and an apology,” he requested. The leader of the BNG, Ana Pontón, responded to him: “It is the PP who must apologize to all victims and women because when it learned of the complaint, it sided with the alleged aggressor and not the alleged victim.”
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