The lawyer of Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias has filed legal action against Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz, after she publicly referred to the singer as a ‘sexual abuser’.
The move follows allegations made by two women who previously worked for Iglesias — a domestic worker and a physiotherapist — who claimed they suffered sexual and other forms of abuse while employed at his properties in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.
Spanish prosecutors later shelved the complaint, ruling that Spain’s courts had no jurisdiction over alleged acts committed abroad. ALSO READ: Spanish prosecutors drop sex abuse case against Julio Iglesias, citing lack of jurisdiction.
Iglesias’ lawyer, José Antonio Choclán, has now submitted a written request to a Madrid civil court seeking a conciliation hearing — a mandatory preliminary step before filing a criminal complaint for public defamation and slander. The document demands that Díaz retract her statements and compensate the singer, with the amount to be determined. If no agreement is reached, Iglesias intends to pursue criminal proceedings.
According to the filing, Díaz — a leading figure in the left-wing Sumar platform — ‘first issued clear prejudices of guilt against Iglesias to the public opinion through a social network and later through a television medium’, accusing him of sexual abuse, keeping workers in a ‘state of slavery’, and systematically violating their fundamental rights.
The claim focuses in particular on a message Díaz posted on 13 January on the social media platform Bluesky, following reporting by elDiario.es on the complaints lodged with the National Court Prosecutor’s Office. ALSO READ: Julio Iglesias says abuse allegations are ‘absolutely false’ and ‘deeply sadden’ him.
‘Chilling testimonies from former employees of Julio Iglesias of sexual abuse and a situation of slavery with a power structure based on permanent aggression,’ Díaz wrote at the time.
The lawsuit argues that Díaz did not retract those remarks the following day, but instead reaffirmed and expanded them during a prime-time interview on the national broadcaster TVE programme, La Hora de la 1, when asked about her Bluesky post.
The legal filing further contrasts Díaz’s handling of the Iglesias case with her response to a separate complaint involving former prime minister Adolfo Suárez. In that instance, Iglesias’ lawyer notes, Díaz ‘refrained from making any comments, taking refuge in the fact of being aware of such information’, which he argues demonstrates ‘a radical change of criteria’ in her public statements.
Iglesias is asking Díaz to ‘acknowledge the seriously defamatory and slanderous nature of the statements’, to recognise that ‘an undue parallel trial has taken place from an extrajudicial public authority’, and to admit that her remarks have damaged ‘the honour, image and social reputation’ of the singer, whom she portrayed as ‘a sexual abuser, a person who engages in practices of slavery with his employees, and who gravely violates their fundamental rights for being women’.
Díaz has since responded with another post on Bluesky, defending her stance. ‘I defend working women against anyone who violates their integrity and rights, and I will not stop doing so. With complaints or without complaints, women no longer remain silent,’ she wrote, alongside a report on Iglesias’ legal move.
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
🔴 Yolanda Díaz responde a Julio Iglesias que su demanda no hará que deje de señalar a quien cree que vulnera la “integridad” y “los derechos” de las trabajadoras: “No voy a dejar de hacerlo. Las mujeres ya no nos callamos” https://t.co/PrmaGGCu69
— Europa Press (@europapress) February 24, 2026
Please support us with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.