After a gender violence report in Spain, the first time limit is seventy-two hours. That is the longest the police can hold the man reported before releasing him or bringing him before a judge, and it is also the time the court has, from the moment a protection order is requested, to hear both sides separately at a hearing that decides whether he may approach or contact her, who stays in the home and what happens with the children while the case lasts. Where the police report is enough, the case goes down the fast-track route, in which the accused can accept a conviction with the sentence reduced by a third or go to a trial set within the following fifteen days.
I am Luis Jurado Cano, registered with the A Coruña Bar Association under number 6317, and at Perseus & RC Abogados I handle these cases from both sides, defending men who have been reported and acting for women who report, never both in the same case. In A Coruña they are investigated by the Violence against Women court, which since the end of 2025, under the reform that created the new first-instance courts, operates as the Violence against Women Section of the Tribunal de Instancia and can also rule on the children, the home and maintenance. General criminal matters, from arrest to being summoned as a suspect, are on the criminal law page.
The first seventy-two hours
The report can be made at a police station, at the Guardia Civil or at court, and a case can also start with a hospital injury report or a neighbour’s call. The man reported is usually arrested or summoned urgently. From that moment he has the right to remain silent, to speak privately with his lawyer before any police statement and to a free interpreter if he does not understand Spanish. Outside court hours he is first taken to the duty court, which only decides whether he is released or remanded in custody.
At the protection order hearing the judge hears the woman, the man with his lawyer and the prosecutor, each separately. Criminal measures are mainly a ban on approaching her, her home and her workplace and on contacting her by any means, sometimes monitored electronically, and in serious cases custody. Civil measures decide who uses the family home, where the children live, contact arrangements and maintenance, and they last thirty days unless she starts family proceedings.
If you have been reported
The ban binds you, not her. If she calls or invites you home and you go, you commit a breach offence punishable by prison with no fine as an alternative. Keep your full message history with her, without deleting anything. A plea deal reduces the sentence by a third and ends the case in hours, but it always carries the approach ban, loss of any firearms licence in cases of assault without injury, and a criminal record, and if a prison term is suspended the judge must add the approach ban and a training programme as conditions. I only advise it when the evidence is solid and the offer is genuinely better than the likely outcome at trial. More in accused of gender violence in Spain.
If you are the woman reporting
You can request a protection order when you report, from the police, the court, the prosecutor, a victim support office or social services. Victims of gender violence are entitled to free legal aid without proving their income, from advice before the report onwards. You can also appoint your own lawyer and join the case as a private prosecutor, with full rights until the indictment is filed and afterwards only by joining the public prosecutor’s charges, which lets you propose evidence, appeal a dismissal and claim compensation in the same trial. Be aware that once you join as a prosecutor, you lose the right not to testify against your partner for the rest of the case. The steps are set out in the protection order and the victim’s rights.
Refusing to testify against a partner
The wife or partner of the accused may refuse to testify against him, and she can make that choice even though she made the report, unless she has been a private prosecutor or has already agreed to testify after being told of this right. If she refuses, the prosecution must rely on other evidence, such as medical reports, witnesses, the officers who attended and messages. Pressuring her not to testify can be a breach of the order, and doing so with threats is a separate offence carrying one to four years in prison.
Where we are
Rúa Torreiro 13, 3.º C, 15001 A Coruña, Spain. Phone +34 677 841 007. If your hearing is today or tomorrow, say so when you call. We can start by video call, in English.
Frequently asked questions
I have a restraining order and she has asked to meet me. Can I go?
No. The order binds you, and if you go you commit the offence of breaching it, punishable by six months to a year in prison, even if the meeting was her idea. If circumstances have genuinely changed, your lawyer can ask the judge in writing to modify or lift the measure.
Do I have to testify against my partner?
As a general rule, no. The wife or partner of the accused is not obliged to testify against him, and the judge must tell her so before asking any questions. She loses that right if she is or has been a private prosecutor in the case, or if she already agreed to testify after being told she did not have to.
How long do the protection order's measures on the home and children last?
Thirty days. If she files for separation, divorce or custody within that period, they remain in force for thirty days after the claim is filed, and the competent family judge then confirms, changes or lifts them.
What does a plea deal mean in a gender violence case?
The sentence is reduced by a third, but the conviction always carries a ban on approaching her for the period set in the judgment, loss of the right to hold firearms in cases of assault without injury, and a criminal record, so it has to be weighed with the file in front of you before signing.