The controversy settled again in Spain after it became known that an immigrant of Moroccan origin convicted of a particularly violent rape managed to keep his long-term residence permit in the country. The court decision annulled the expulsion order that had been issued against him, despite the seriousness of the facts that were established in the criminal case. The decision, advanced by the newspaper Segre, was adopted by the Superior Court of Justice of La Rioja, which concluded that the necessary conditions are not met to expel him from the country.
According to the ruling, in his current situation, men do not represent a “real, current and sufficiently serious” threat to public order, an interpretation that has revived the political debate on migration policy and the system's response to crimes of rape.The origin of the case dates back to a ruling handed down in 2014 by the Provincial Court of Lérida, which sentenced the immigrant to seven and a half years in prison for rape, a sexual assault described in the process as especially violent. In addition to that penalty, other sanctions were added: one and a half years of additional imprisonment and a financial fine for a crime of obstruction of justice. The proven facts revealed particularly serious behavior even after the court case had begun. According to the sentence, after being charged with the rape, the man tried to pressure the victim inside a shopping mall to withdraw the complaint. At that meeting, he offered him money and also issued threats if he did not agree to desist from the judicial process, a direct attempt to interfere with the investigation and the progress of the
case.
Despite the conviction for a crime of rape and the maneuvers to stop the case, the Superior Court of Justice of La Rioja assessed his subsequent situation. The convicted person has been living in Spain for more than 19 years, has more than 15 years of working life and is the father of a minor with Spanish nationality. In addition, he lives with his partner - also of Moroccan origin and with legal residence - and with his daughter, without any family conflicts or new crimes after having served his sentence. Once his sentence ended in October 2019, the man moved to La Rioja, where he took up residence. He continued his life there until, in 2024, during a police identification on the street where he lives, the expulsion file began. This proceeding was opened more than a decade after the rape conviction and several years after serving the prison sentence
