• TV José María López, sentenced to 15 months for sexual abuse of Carlota Prado in Big Brother

"

Zeppelin always acted in good faith." So forceful has been the producer of GH Revolution after knowing the sentence for one of the most terrible cases of television in Spain: the case of sexual abuse suffered by Carlota Prado in the reality.

This Monday the Criminal Court No. 18 of Madrid sentenced José María López to 15 months in prison for sexually abusing Carlota Prado during the broadcast of the realityGH Revolution in 2017. Along with López, the magistrate also condemned the producer, Zeppelin, and its insurer, Choup European Group, to pay compensation of 1,000 euros to the victim for the "moral damage" caused by having shown him the images of his own abuse. It refers to the moment when those responsible for the production company took Carlota Prado to the confessional known as the confessional and showed her the images of the sexual abuse of which she had been a victim the night before.

Sentence

Television.

José María López, sentenced to 15 months for sexual abuse of Carlota Prado in Big Brother: "He used her as a sex toy"

  • Writing: ESTHER MUCIENTES

José María López, sentenced to 15 months for sexual abuse of Carlota Prado in Big Brother: "He used her as a sex toy"

The producer, subsidiary civil responsible, will not appeal the sentence, as they have assured in a statement in which it shows "its respect for the sentence issued in the criminal procedure", although it qualifies several points of the same and warns that the 6,000 euros of the compensation that José María López has to pay to Carlota Prado , despite the fact that in the letter he assures that they are borne by the producer, it will not face that payment: "The convicted person must assume the responsibility derived from his actions and face the payment of the economic compensation set in sentence".

"The production company and its employees acted, throughout the process, with the strongest will to protect it, respecting the privacy of the people involved," Zeppelin's statement said.

The sentence relates that "in the course of that party, Carlota Prado, who had only dined on a plate of chips because there was a shortage of food in the house, drank an undetermined amount of alcohol, no less than four shots of tequila or similar liquor, which led to alcohol poisoning, which was accentuated from midnight. " Carlota Prado did not receive medical assistance but it was the defendant who moved her to the bedroom.

At 01.30 hours and November 4, José María López took off his pants, helped Carlota Prado to take off her shoes and get into bed and, "guided by a libidinous spirit, knowing the state in which Carlota Prado was, took off her pants and began to perform under the comforter movements of a sexual nature, Even though he's weakly he said, 'I can't.'"

"The facts prosecuted were brought to the attention of the authorities by the production company itself," they say from Zeppelin, "and the direction of the program decided to expel the contestant involved in them." "The producer, at the very moment she had knowledge of the facts, intervened paralyzing the conduct of the contestant when suspecting its possible illicit nature, despite not having full visibility, given that they occurred under a duvet," continues the statement of the GH producer. However, this has been one of the acts that has cost Zeppelin the most criticism: why didn't it stop sooner?

According to the sentence, José María López put Carlota Prado to bed at 01.30 hours on November 4, 2017 and the person responsible that night called attention in a "very laconic way" to the condemned at 01.40 hours. It is those 10 minutes in which a Carlota Prado is practically unconscious. And it is those 10 minutes and those that would come the next morning that have always put the target on Zeppelin.

Once José María López was warned by the producer, he tries to wake up the victim, who wakes up dazed, vomits and "wobbles". Therefore, the judge considers that "it is obvious that Carlota Prado was deprived of all sense and "in deplorable conditions." It is impossible not to conclude the graphic description made by the Prosecutor's Office that Carlota Prado was used by the accused as an object to satisfy himself as a sex toy, without there being the slightest shadow of consent and consequently of freedom on his part in what happened. "

The next morning, the producer expelled José María López from GH and reunited Carlota Prado in the so-called Confessional. According to the sentence, the fact that the young woman saw the images alone, with no other company than the voice-over of the one known as Super, without having prior knowledge or notice of what they were going to show her, without "assistance of any personnel and without any contractual clause that regulated the proceeding", generated in her "frustration, moral damage and, apparently, subsequent psychological consequences".

Given this, Zeppelin assures that "later and with the purpose of avoiding inaccuracies or omissions that could occur in a verbal communication", it was decided to show the victim the video of the events. "Likewise, she was allowed to see him alone because she considered that this would respect the privacy required by the moment. However, at all times there were people from the organization and psychologists prepared to accompany her after the viewing. Zeppelin always acted in good faith," they conclude.

Eight minutes of confessional in which you can clearly see the reaction of a woman who sees her own sexual abuse without anyone's help, other than the distorted voice of a person. "In these conditions, the viewing of what had happened caused in Carlota Prado, already fully conscious, the next morning, a deep discomfort, surprise and pain and, subsequently, anxiety and stress that ended up producing a psychological disorder at later dates," says the judge's brief.

After talking to the psychologist that morning, Carlota Prado decided to leave the house. She spent four days in a hotel arranged by the organization, accompanied by her mother, without a mobile phone and with a team of GH psychologists. When he was discharged, he decided to return to the house because he could not cope with the pressure from the outside, "he was not aware". He walked in again, and no one said a word. In fact, if it were not for the media that reported that the program had appeared hours after what happened in the Civil Guard Command to denounce the facts, everything would have been in an expulsion for "intolerable behavior". A few days later she was expelled by the audience, disappeared and already cold and sheltered by her family decided to denounce.

After the case, unprecedented in the history of television in Spain, Zeppelin made available to the audiovisual industry its Protocol for prevention and action in situations of sexual abuse in high-visibility environments. In it, among many points of action, it is stated that "the organization will be placed on the same plane as the victim, not above or adopting a paternalistic or imposing position, avoiding making decisions without taking into account the victim, "for his good".

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