The Court of First Instance and Instruction number 1 of Valverde has found indications of criminal activity in the actions of a businessman from El Hierro, agreeing to transform the preliminary proceedings into an abbreviated procedure. The accusation focuses on the dissemination of medical data belonging to the Councilor of Tourism of the Cabildo of El Hierro, María del Mar Suárez Armas, without her authorization.
According to the judicial ruling, the councilwoman had provided a medical report in a previous proceeding related to a conciliation request for alleged defamation and slander. The investigated individual, after receiving a copy of this documentation, incorporated it into a request submitted to the Cabildo of El Hierro demanding the councilwoman's resignation.
The court maintains that the businessman, instead of using the documentation for his defense, presented it to the insular administration, thereby exposing medical data about the plaintiff's pathologies. This action would have caused "enormous personal and professional harm," given that the medical information was not known in her professional environment.
During the investigation, witnesses confirmed that the medical report was integrated into an administrative file accessible to several public employees of the Cabildo. The ruling states that the investigated individual had access to "especially sensitive data relating to her health status" and communicated it without consent, accompanying it with statements about the affected person's capacity to exercise her public functions.
Technological investigation has also reinforced the businessman's link to the transmission of the documentation, by proving that the request was sent from an IP address associated with him. The magistrate concludes that there are rational indications that the businessman "obtained knowledge of specially protected data relating to the health" of the victim and subsequently "communicated or disseminated it to third parties without authorization," leading to various individuals accessing private information.
For these actions, the judge has decided to continue the proceedings for an alleged crime of revelation of secrets, as defined in Article 197 of the Penal Code. The judicial resolution is not yet final and can be appealed.
