## Facts

- Jose Pablo, an army soldier, served in a unit under the authority of First Sergeant Juan Carlos.
- Pablo alleged Carlos repeatedly singled him out for derogatory names and comments in front of other members of the unit.
- Pablo alleged Carlos used Pablo’s name as a synonym for making mistakes, referring to an error as “doing a Jose Pablo.”
- Pablo alleged Carlos ordered him, in front of others, to show a photograph of Pablo’s girlfriend and then mocked the photograph.
- Pablo alleged Carlos hit him in the chest with a closed fist on several occasions.
- Two other soldiers in the unit, Julián and Marco Antonio, allegedly wrote a degrading song about Pablo.
- The song allegedly consisted largely of examples of the ridicule Carlos directed at Pablo.
- Pablo filed a complaint alleging that Carlos, Julián, and Marco Antonio committed the military crime of abuse of authority by subjecting him to (1) mistreatment and (2) degrading treatment.
- The defendants moved to dismiss, arguing that even if the allegations were true, the facts were legally insufficient to constitute abuse of authority.
- A local military court concluded the alleged facts were sufficient to state the offense.
- A territorial military court disagreed and dismissed the charges as legally insufficient.
- The case was appealed to the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court of Spain.

## Issues

1. Whether, assuming the complaint’s allegations are true at the dismissal stage, the alleged pattern of public humiliation and physical blows by a superior is legally capable of constituting abuse of authority through mistreatment or degrading treatment under Spanish military criminal law.
2. Whether the territorial military court erred by dismissing the abuse-of-authority charges as legally insufficient where the complaint alleged repeated ridicule by a superior, a humiliating order carried out before the unit, and multiple closed-fist blows.

## Decision

- A local military court denied the defendants’ dismissal request, finding the allegations sufficient to state abuse of authority based on mistreatment and degrading treatment.
- A territorial military court dismissed the charges as legally insufficient, concluding the alleged facts did not meet the legal threshold for the offense.
- The Military Chamber granted review and rejected the territorial court’s legal-sufficiency dismissal, allowing the prosecution to proceed on the complaint’s allegations.

## Legal Principles

- At a pretrial legal-sufficiency stage, the reviewing court treats the complaint’s factual allegations as true and asks only whether those alleged facts, if proven, can satisfy the elements of the charged offense.
- Abuse of authority in the superior–subordinate setting may be shown by conduct that misuses rank to subject an inferior to mistreatment or degrading treatment, rather than to lawful discipline.
- Repeated public ridicule by a superior—especially where the subordinate is singled out as an object of mockery within the unit—may qualify as mistreatment or degrading treatment when tied to the superior’s exercise of authority.
- Ordering a subordinate to perform a humiliating act in front of others (such as exhibiting a personal photograph and then being mocked) may contribute to a finding of degrading treatment when it serves no legitimate military purpose and targets the subordinate’s dignity.
- Repeated physical striking that is not part of lawful training or discipline (such as closed-fist blows to the chest) may constitute mistreatment, even absent allegations of serious bodily injury, when alleged as part of a pattern of abuse tied to rank.
- Participation by other soldiers in acts that mirror or reinforce a superior’s humiliating conduct (such as a degrading song repeating the superior’s mockery) may support treating the alleged behavior as unit-level degradation connected to the abuse-of-authority charge.

## Conclusion

The Military Chamber considered a complaint alleging that a first sergeant repeatedly humiliated a subordinate in front of the unit, compelled a humiliating display of a personal photo, and struck the subordinate in the chest with a closed fist multiple times, with two other soldiers joining through a degrading song; it concluded the allegations were legally sufficient to support abuse-of-authority charges and that dismissal at the pleading stage was improper.


Case of First Sergeant Juan Carlos, Military Chamber (2019)