The magistrate of the Instruction Section of the Court of First Instance of Seville, court 18, has agreed to continue the processing of the preliminary proceedings through an abbreviated procedure. This order, accessed by EFE on Monday, April 13, 2026, allows the parties to submit an indictment, request the opening of a trial, or ask for the dismissal of the case. The ruling also points to the subsidiary civil liability of EDA TV.

According to the judge, the investigative proceedings and the content of the messages and videos that Quiles disseminated about Rubén Sánchez reveal “clear indications that his aim was to insult, offend, and vilify” the Facua representative. The magistrate emphasizes that this behavior is not protected by freedom of expression.

The judicial order details that Quiles's “offensive intent” reached “intolerable extremes” by making gratuitous claims aimed at making third parties believe that Sánchez engaged in immoral nocturnal activities. Furthermore, it is mentioned that Quiles went as far as to link Facua with a “criminal network of abuse of supervised minors” without any basis, solely to denigrate the plaintiff.

The judge considers the entirety of the publications to be “intolerable to the ethical and professional duty of journalism” and “unprotected” by the right to freedom of expression, suggesting that the facts could constitute criminal libel and slander.

In response to this decision, Rubén Sánchez expressed his “great satisfaction” in a video published on his YouTube channel on the same Monday, describing the order as “devastating.” For his part, Vito Quiles, who was number 57 on the Se Acabó la Fiesta (SALF) list in the European elections, defended in his judicial statement that his statements about Sánchez were framed within ideological differences and his rights as a journalist. At the time, Quiles also told EFE that Sánchez's complaint was “false.”