A Moroccan man convicted of brutal rape in Les Basses de Alpicat in 2012 obtains permanent residence in La Rioja despite the police report that identified him as a public risk
The Government Delegation in La Rioja issued an expulsion order against S.E.G., a Moroccan citizen with 19 years of residence in Spain, following a routine check in a public place in 2024.
The National Police prepared a detailed report in which they considered him a public risk, based on his final conviction for sexual assault. However, the Superior Court of Justice of La Rioja (TSJR) revoked that decision, initially upheld by a judge, and granted him legal permanence in the country.
The magistrates argued that the convicted man is the father of a minor of Spanish nationality, maintains a stable family cohabitation with his partner —also Moroccan and a legal resident— and has accumulated more than 15 years of accredited working life, with no record of offenses subsequent to the 2014 conviction.
The events date back to October 2012 in Les Basses d’Alpicat (Lleida). According to the ruling of the Provincial Court of Lleida, S.E.G. approached the victim in a shopping center, committed a particularly violent sexual assault and, once reported, attempted to obstruct justice by offering her 2,000 euros to withdraw the complaint.
When she refused, he threatened her that “his friends” would mark her face and ruin her life, which led to an additional conviction for violating the restraining order.
The court imposed seven years in prison for sexual assault, one and a half years more for obstruction of justice, fines amounting to 1,620 and 2,700 euros, and a prohibition on approaching the victim. He served the sentence until October 2019 after remaining on provisional release until the sentence became final.
The TSJR, in its ruling of December 2025 to which ABC had access, applied the principle of proportionality provided for in the Aliens Act and in the European Directive 2003/109/EC.
The judges assessed that, although the conviction exceeded the one-year prison threshold that allows the expulsion of long-term residents, there was no evidence of a “real, present and sufficiently serious threat” to public order or citizen security at the present time.
They highlighted the more than 19 years of stay in Spain, family ties and labor integration, and concluded that the expulsion would directly affect the Spanish minor, born in Spain and with automatic nationality. S.E.G.’s long-term residence permit, granted in 2013 and renewed periodically until 2024, remained in force by judicial order.
This resolution illustrates a strict application of the criteria of family and temporal roots that prioritizes family unity over a serious criminal record, even when the National Police expressly warned of the risk.
The Government Delegation, dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, had acted on the basis of the police report after detecting the pending expulsion order, but the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TSJR considered that the requirements to execute it were not met.
This is clear evidence of how current legislation, designed to protect the fundamental rights of long-term residents, can leave people convicted of extremely serious crimes against sexual integrity on national territory, provided that the court does not perceive a sufficient “present” threat.
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