Spanish prosecutors appeal acquittal in child isolation case

The Spanish Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office has appealed a ruling by the High Court of Justice of Asturias regarding a case in which parents kept their three children isolated in a home in Fitoria for over three years.

While the Asturias court confirmed convictions for family abandonment, it acquitted the parents of charges involving illegal detention and habitual psychological abuse. The prosecution's appeal, filed by prosecutor Álvaro Redondo Hermida, argues that the proven facts—which include the children being kept in unsanitary conditions without medical care or schooling—legally constitute illegal detention and psychological abuse.

The isolation began in 2021, when the children were five and seven years old. The parents reportedly convinced the minors that leaving the house would expose them to contagion. The situation only ended after intervention by local police and social services three years later.