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Spain’s Supreme Court Upholds 20-Day Suspension for Moncloa Guardia Civil Over Drunken, Indecent On-Duty Conduct

The military chamber found extensive testimony showed the behavior damaged the force’s dignity.

Overview

  • On April 1, 2022, at La Moncloa’s security gym, the agent drank beers before his shift and later shared gin-and-cola with colleagues despite being responsible for the facility.
  • In the presence of Policía Nacional officers, including the president’s head of escorts, he lowered his trousers and exposed his buttocks while dancing, according to the case record.
  • The Directorate-General imposed a 20-day suspension without pay in October 2022 for a grave breach of dignity, a decision later confirmed by the Tribunal Militar Central.
  • The Supreme Court’s Sala de lo Militar, in a January 21 ruling authored by magistrate Jacobo Barja de Quiroga, rejected the agent’s appeal on evidentiary, legality, defense, and proportionality claims.
  • Judges cited multiple witness accounts and noted prior commendations as mitigation but said the conduct could have justified a one-to-three-month suspension and rejected the argument that the incident lacked public projection because police witnesses are part of society.