Raul Asencio trial takes fresh turn after prosecutors abandon privacy allegation

Prosecutors in Spain have withdrawn the privacy-related charge against Real Madrid defender Raul Asencio after two women involved in the case said they would no longer pursue legal action against the four players accused.

Asencio appeared in court alongside three former Real Madrid academy teammates, Ferran Ruiz, Juan Rodriguez and Andres Garcia, at the start of proceedings in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The two women told the judge at Criminal Court No. 5 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria that they forgave all four defendants, according to Spanish newspaper AS.

Their decision allowed the public prosecution to drop its allegation that intimate photographs and videos had been shared or distributed without the women’s consent. That charge had applied to Asencio as well as the other three defendants.

However, the women’s withdrawal does not affect the separate allegations involving child sexual material against Ruiz, Rodriguez and Garcia. Asencio is not accused of that offence.

The remaining allegations concern the recording of a sexual video involving a minor. One of the women was 16 at the time of the alleged events in 2023. Under Spanish law, a charge of that nature cannot simply be discontinued because the alleged victim withdraws a complaint or forgives the accused.

After hearing the statements from both women, the judge temporarily suspended the hearing.

The case dates back to the summer of 2023, when Ruiz, Rodriguez and Garcia were fellow members of the Real Madrid academy with Asencio. The three men are alleged to have had consensual sexual relations with the two women at a beach club in Amadores, in the south of Gran Canaria.

The prosecution’s case centres on the claim that photographs and videos of the encounter were recorded without the women’s permission. Those materials were then allegedly circulated through WhatsApp to other people, despite the women asking for them to be deleted.

One of the videos later reached Asencio’s phone. He had been accused of showing it to a third person while knowing, according to the prosecution’s case, that it had been recorded without consent and that the women had requested its removal.

The latest development means Asencio no longer faces the allegation relating to the unauthorised disclosure or distribution of intimate material. The separate proceedings involving the other three defendants and the alleged material involving a minor remain unaffected.

The judge’s decision to pause the hearing followed the women’s testimony and came before a final ruling had been issued.