MEP requests suspension of party membership over domestic abuse accusations

The former Spanish Minister for Justice, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, asked on Tuesday to be temporarily suspended from the Socialist Party (PSOE) as the result of a domestic abuse claim filed against him by his former wife.

Lopez Aguilar is currently a member of the European Parliament for the PSOE and, had he not requested his party membership be suspended, there is every possibility the PSOE would have suspended him anyway over the matter.

Ironically, Lopez Aguilar was the minister for justice when the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero approved a law aimed at stamping out domestic abuse in 2004.

His status as a former cabinet minister means the case has to be heard in the Spanish Supreme Court, and Lopez Aguilar has proclaimed his innocence, insisting he was "the victim of yet another false complaint," and that the complaint was part of what he described as a "painful" divorce case.

"It has been very painful to see that people you once loved, worked for, are now threatening to make you suffer if you go through with the marriage breakup," said the former minister in a press release in which he insisted he was, "suffering an attack against my honor, my credibility, and my political work of many years."

The PSOE has made it clear that if he is found guilty of abuse then he will be expelled from the party, but said he would be reinstated in the event he receives a not guilty verdict. Endit