Since 2016, families with defendants have been trapped in this spiral. The Investigating Court number 3 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has ordered the imprisonment of two men accused of crimes against the freedom and sexual indemnity of minors, inducement to prostitution and crimes against public health. One of the accused is the ringleader of the '18 Lovas' case, related to similar crimes. But in 2024 there was news: four new victims appeared.
The First Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, in an order dated last April, has upheld the appeal for reform filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution, and has ordered the Court of Instruction to carry out new proceedings to investigate the alleged commission of crimes of sexual assault and sexual exploitation and corruption of minors to the detriment of four new victims, in addition to expanding the investigation with respect to facts already known and attributed to some of the defendants.
The court order does specify that the prosecution considers that there are indications that four of the defendants induced girls aged 15 to 17 to prostitute themselves between 2013 and 2016 and that some of them even raped them. "The magnitude of the possible factual assumptions that are considered omitted is striking, both in their reference to the inclusion of victims and in relation to the aforementioned complement with respect to others already mentioned in the indictment," states the order, which adds: "the Court has no other option than to return the summary to the Court of Instruction and annul the conclusion agreed at the time" because "it should not be overlooked that the indictment cannot be content with drawing the who of the indictment. It must also specify the what and, of course, the why," signs the judge of the decision, Pedro Herrera.
The case investigates an alleged criminal organization dedicated to the sexual exploitation of minors, in which Agustín Alemán Barreto, alias Yino (the alleged ringleader) allegedly participated, who has been in preventive detention since January 2025 for an alleged similar crime. The acts investigated would have been committed in a context of vulnerability of the victims, some of whom were minors under guardianship.
The Provincial Court considers that there is sufficient evidence to determine that the facts are necessary for the performance of new proceedings to determine the criminal liability of those under investigation. In particular, the Court has pointed out that the contested indictment lacks sufficient motivation in relation to certain facts and circumstances, and that the extension of the investigation is essential to guarantee the right to effective judicial protection.
