The Government Delegation in La Rioja issued an expulsion order against SEG, a 19-year-old Moroccan citizen residing in Spain, after a routine check on a public road in 2024.
The National Police prepared a detailed report in which they considered him a public risk, based on his conviction for sexual assault.
However, the Superior Court of Justice of La Rioja (TSJR) overturned that decision, initially endorsed by a judge, and granted him legal residency in the country.
The judges argued that the convicted man is the father of a minor of Spanish nationality, maintains a stable family life with his partner —also Moroccan and a legal resident— and has accumulated more than 15 years of accredited work history, with no record of crimes after 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, SEG 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 that “his friends” would scar her face and ruin her life, which resulted in an additional conviction for violating the restraining order.
The court sentenced him to seven years in prison for sexual assault, an additional year and a half for obstruction of justice, fines of €1,620 and €2,700, and a restraining order prohibiting him from approaching the victim. He served his sentence until October 2019 after being released on bail until the sentence became final.
The TSJR, in its December 2025 ruling to which ABC had access, applied the principle of proportionality provided for in the Immigration Law and in European Directive 2003/109/EC.
The judges considered that, although the sentence exceeded the threshold of one year in prison that allows the expulsion of long-term residents, there was no evidence of a “real, current and sufficiently serious threat” to public order or citizen security at the present time.
They highlighted the more than 19 years of residence in Spain, the family ties and the labor integration, and concluded that the expulsion would directly affect the Spanish minor, born in Spain and with automatic nationality.
SEG’s long-term residence permit, granted in 2013 and periodically renewed until 2024, was kept in effect by court order.
This resolution illustrates a strict application of the criteria of family and temporary ties that prioritizes family unity over serious criminal history, even when the National Police expressly warned of the risk.
The Government Delegation, under the Ministry of the Interior, had acted on the basis of the police report after detecting the pending expulsion order, but the Administrative Court 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 in the country, as long as the court does not find a sufficient “present” threat.