First his ex-partner took him away from his son, Samuel, from the age of three to 11 years old. He had to struggle for years with being accused of sexually abusing the child, and the courts never even came to instruct any cause, for lack of evidence. Then, his ex, María Sevilla, was pardoned by the Government after his sentence of two and a half years in prison for kidnapping his son. Later, Irene Montero, Minister of Equality, branded him an abuser. And now the Supreme Court has proved him right: he did it violating his right to honor. Rafael Marcos speaks, as always, very calmly. He is a cook in a school in Estepona, he has rebuilt his life and almost for the first time he tastes justice. His hell with a happy ending is told with hairs and signs in the book 'Some Good Men' (The Sphere of Books)

Did he think this verdict could be achieved? If I'm honest, no. We were beaten when we were denied recourse to pardon [by the Supreme Court to the granting of pardon to María Sevilla by the Government] and I thought that this would continue along the same line of injustice, but luckily it has not been like that. The main thing is that she is doomed and if this lady can not devote herself more to politics it would be very good for this country. Have you, whom the minister called an abuser, felt mistreated by this government? Of course, since the granting of the pardon, this government has mistreated me. Because, come on, whether Maria [Sevilla] goes to jail or I don't care, but that they have returned [Samuel's] parental authority seems incredible to me after what she did, because my son does not deserve it. It is an obvious mistreatment. But come on, my son, who is going to turn 16, has put more sanity away from his mother than all the politicians and judges. Taking into account the clarity of his statements about you, the fact that he did not appear through mediation and that there has been no hint of retraction on his part, do you think that Montero has sinned of arrogance in your case? Absolutely, he has acted arrogantly. I think she thought that because she was a minister she believed she was protected, even sheltered by the State Advocacy. I thought nothing was going to happen to him, of course. How can someone who is precisely Minister of Equality be condemned for such an act? We have to be doing something wrong in this society to have people of this type of a Ministry precisely like that of Equality, something has to be rethought. It is not possible that there has been almost a full legislature in the Government someone who has done so much damage, in this case against men. That it seems that this lady has a fixation against us, or that she hates us or something. He has once commented that he does not understand how a government minister can act as an anti-system. Yes, because this lady has clearly fostered inequality and acted against the law and the Constitution. How does anyone feel when a political leader of this level condemns them socially like this? After fighting judicially for 12 years [for the denunciations of María Sevilla], to be logically absolved of all the lies that have been told about you because there is nothing, to get your son back, to have him say that all that was a lie and that he does not want to see his mother ... And the heads of this country not only pardon her, but they want to show that she is a protective mother ... This had to explode somewhere. I still thought that justice was not going to be done, but I am very glad that it was.Do 18,000 euros fix that damage? Of course not, I think little for the responsibility they have and the damage they have done. But come on, you asked me how I have handled that social condemnation: my family and my people know very well who I am, I have been fighting for a long time. The worst thing they could tell me in life was not that I had mistreated anyone, but that I had abused my son. No one could hurt me more than that. Let a whole minister come out to say that and label me an abuser... Bah. Justice has been done and that is what matters. It's a stigma that stays there, but... Bah.A question that seems important to me: do you think that just as they have used you as an abuser, they have also used María SEvilla as heroine? Of course. And as a flag. And these people have served that lure, until now. But I want to think that we're going to start assuming that because you're a man you don't necessarily have to be an abuser, and because you're a woman you don't have to be a battered woman. I think we all know this is the case, but some radicals have hijacked the debate to make us believe otherwise for a while. You have to turn this page as soon as possible.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more