The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Andalusian High Court has rejected the appeal filed by Landaluce, making the decision to dismiss the lawsuit final. This ruling, issued on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, is not subject to further appeal, as reported by Europa Sur.
Judges Lorenzo del Río (president of the TSJA), Antonio Moreno, and Miguel Pasquau (rapporteur) have maintained all the reasons given in the initial dismissal, stating that the arguments in the appeal did not raise any doubts to reconsider the decision. The lawsuit stemmed from Arrabal sharing screenshots of a WhatsApp chat among three councilwomen discussing alleged inappropriate conduct by the mayor.
The TSJA had already determined in March that the socialist spokesperson's statements were not reckless fabrications, but rather conclusions based on information received from third parties, which justified a call for resignation within the context of opposition work. Therefore, no disregard for the truth was found on Arrabal's part.
The new TSJA ruling emphasizes that the public denial by two of the alleged victims, Eva Pajares and Susana Pérez Custodio, does not automatically render any subsequent assessment criminally malicious. The magistrates argue that the difference between controversial information and knowingly false imputation is substantial in legal terms.
Criminalizing opposition work under the guise of libel in cases like this, where information received about alleged reprehensible behavior by a political leader is conveyed to public opinion, even if there is no conviction providing certainty about its reality, would entail an unacceptable restriction of freedom of expression in the context of political debate, precisely for fear of possible criminal implications.
