Controversy Over the Conversion of a Benidorm Court into a Gender Violence Court

Controversy surrounds the elimination of a Benidorm Court of Instruction to transform it into a Gender Violence Court. The proposal has been met with absolute rejection from judges, Legal Administration Lawyers (LAJ), the Prosecutor's Office, as well as lawyers and solicitors, who believe this change would cause a "serious backlog" in case processing, as the new sections handling cases of violence against women would also have to investigate all sexual offenses.

The Alicante Provincial Bar Association (ICALI) has submitted a statement to the Ministry of Justice, the Valencian Community's High Court of Justice (Tsjcv), and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) expressing their disagreement with the announced elimination of a Benidorm Court of Instruction for its conversion into a Gender Violence Court.

The local government of Benidorm City Council also denounced the new cut planned by the central government at the Benidorm Justice Palace two weeks ago. As a result, spokespersons Lourdes Caselles and Mónica Gómez presented a motion to the plenary session to "demand the Ministry of Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts to reverse the initiative."

The measure has been prompted by the enactment of Organic Law 1/2025 on measures for the efficiency of the Public Justice Service, which came into force on April 3, and its implementation is scheduled for next October.

As stated by Ignacio Gally, dean of ICALI, "the Benidorm Gender Violence Court No. 1 already saw its workload increase with the assumption of cases from the Villajoyosa judicial district, due to the regionalization of the Gender Violence courts. Transforming a Court of Instruction would significantly worsen the already overburdened judicial situation in the Benidorm judicial district."

Legal operators in Benidorm point out that, to meet the real needs of the city, which recorded over 15 million overnight stays last year, one of the four courts of instruction cannot be eliminated; instead, it should be maintained and a new Gender Violence Court should be created.

Therefore, the Alicante Bar Association expresses its absolute disagreement with this measure and supports all initiatives undertaken by the representations of Judges, Legal Administration Lawyers, Prosecutors, Solicitors, and citizen associations in Benidorm and its region.