One of Spain's top investigators of gender-based violence accused of sexual abuse

The decision is unprecedented, but the events themselves are also without precedent. Some define it as the most serious case of abuse of power and sexual abuse in a Spanish university. The University of Barcelona (UB), the main and largest public university in Catalonia, will issue a preliminary ruling on the so-called 'Ramón Flecha case' in the next few days. It will do so despite the fact that the panel of experts investigating the disciplinary proceedings opened against this emeritus professor of sociology, a leading academic figure in the fight against gender-based violence and feminism, has not yet completed its work.

The case has taken on such proportions that this panel of experts will bring forward its conclusions, and the UB’s governing team, led by the rector, will have to make a decision. As recently as a week ago, Rector Joan Guardia said it was a matter of days. “It is not necessary to complete the investigation in order to have sufficient evidence on the table and issue an initial ruling,” the rector said.

Flecha was accused last July by 14 women of sexual abuse, psychological abuse and abuse of power over the years. The victims could be many more. Since then, an internal investigation has been carried out at the university by a commission of three experts.

The victims, who remain anonymous, were university students, scholarship holders, researchers and doctoral students. The alleged acts took place within the Crea research group, founded by Flecha himself three decades ago and attached to the UB until 2020. This scientific community, which at one point comprised up to 70 specialists in different disciplines, has been at the centre of controversy for years due to its allegedly sectarian practices, its functioning and its research methods.

Twenty years ago there was an investigation by the public prosecutor's office that ended up being shelved. Flecha has been tackling the issue of gender violence for three decades. He was one of the driving forces behind the MeToo movement at the UB. In his X account, he presents himself as the scientist of reference, the "first with the most citations" on gender violence. The allegations relate to three decades of sexual abuse and abuses of power in the university environment - three decades of subjugation and coercion by the man who boasted of having promoted the 'MeToo' movement in the Spanish university environment.

According to the allegations, he asked them for massages and sex in a context of clear "hierarchical inequality". It was not easy to refuse in front of someone who was recognised as a renowned researcher, specialised in feminism and gender violence. In addition to sexual abuse, there are allegations of abuse of power, psychological violence and labour exploitation.

The complaints, collected in a joint investigation by eldiario.es, RTVE and InfoLibre, describe harassment of all kinds, not just sexual harassment. The victims had to cook for him, do the dishes, wash the car, do the shopping and sleep with him. According to what they describe, those who refused were left out of the group.

Flecha is currently suspended as a precautionary measure by the UB, pending the provisional resolution in the next few days. This researcher and the group that supports him, at the time of the accusations, argued that it was a defamatory campaign against them, a revenge for having denounced sexual abuse in Spanish universities. He argues that it is the aggressors of the victims he helped in promoting the 'MeToo' movement at the UB who are now trying to take revenge.

The day the collective complaint was made public before the UB, on 2 July, this researcher stated on social networks: "Whenever I have supported victims who have asked me to do so, those who attack them have threatened me with different words but with the same content: that if I supported them they would destroy me, inventing anything that was instrumentally effective to do so."

A week ago, the case reached the Catalan parliament. The opposition demanded that the government act swiftly, although the Catalan government appealed to university autonomy in order not to intervene in the controversy. According to a letter read out by one of the parliamentary groups of a feminist collective, since July 2024, 24 people have left the Crea research group "for reasons related to these facts".

On his social media networks, Flecha defended himself by stating that, in a democracy, "crimes must be reported or denounced in judicial institutions". "There are those who call it a reprisal to fulfil this civic duty and want the media to replace or put pressure on the justice system, because they know that the evidence disproves their accusations," he said. The Crea group issued a statement in which it said it has always investigated and will always investigate complaints that are brought before its equality commission or its leadership. "By always listening to and supporting every victim, we suffer from those who assaulted them and their accomplices in retaliation in the form of anonymous accusations," it said.