Lieutenant accused of raping soldier
01 November 2002
Lieutenant Iván Moriano Moreno of the Spanish navy infantry division had a five-month prison sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court in November after he was found guilty of abusing his authority by subjecting trainee soldier Dolores Quiñoa to degrading treatment, by making her undress in a training camp in El Piornal, near Cáceres, on 11 May 2000. The court accepted that "drunkenness" and "spontaneous repentance" were mitigating circumstances in the case. However, Quiñoa subsequently claimed that she had in fact been raped by Moriano, explaining that she had limited her allegations due to threats received from the lieutenant, aimed at herself and her family. Quiñoa also told El País newspaper that on 17 September 2002, she had made a formal complaint to the Defence Delegation in Lugo, in which she gave a formal, detailed description of events explaining that Moriano "RAPED ME" [capitals in original], but the defence authorities failed to reply. Defence minister Federico Trillo-Figueroa indicated that the failure by Defence authorities to react to the complaint will be investigated by military prosecutors. Quiñoa's allegations came after she received a letter from the Evaluation Board in early September stating that it was making a decision on her status, due to her loss of psychological and physical aptitude without any "cause-effect relationship with the difficulties experienced during service".
In her complaint Quiñoa explained that she started service in "perfect physical and psychological conditions", and her company went to a training camp that preceded the swearing of an oath of allegiance that ended the soldiers' training period. At dawn, several officers returned to the camp in drunken conditions, and she was woken up, along with the soldier with whom she was to share sentry duty, on orders from the lieutenant. After dismissing her colleague, the officer led her to an isolated part of the camp and ordered her to undress, which she did, complaining. She was scared and humiliated, and he raped her; Quiñoa alleges that the rape was followed by threats, her life in the barracks was made difficult and she became depressed, twice attempting suicide.
Another soldier confirmed Quiñoa´s allegations, claiming that the other 45 recruits who were about to end their training period offered to resign after realising what had happened. The officer in charge, head of the Infantería de Marina de la Guardia Real (navy infantry royal guard) Rafael Dávila Álvarez, apologised and explained that what happened "is not normal in the army", as well as giving Quiñoa a branch of flowers when the company graduated. However, he failed to open an investigation. Military prosecutors ceded responsibility for investigating the assault to the prosecutions office in Cáceres, which will allow the soldier to be represented by her lawyer. This would not have been possible in a military trial. Moriano filed for his sentence to be pardoned, but the Defence minister told Congress on 27 November that he would ask the Council of Ministers to refuse the request. Nonetheless, the lieutenant was arrested on 28 November 2002 after he was accused by another female soldier of sexual abuse in the sports facilities in the Agrupación de Infantería (infantry division) in Madrid, where he was transferred following the incident involving Quiñoa.
El País, 16.11, 17.11, 24.11, 28.11, 29.11.02.