Tarragona, Catalonia, is the focus of a court ruling that has confirmed the dismissal of Gimnàstic de Tarragona’s complaint against referee Eder Mallo Fernández and Alejandro Ojaos Valera. The club had alleged document falsification and sports corruption after a play-off match.
The Section Four of the Provincial Court of Tarragona rejected the club’s appeal and said there was not enough evidence to investigate the alleged offences. That decision upholds the provisional dismissal already ordered by Instruction Court number 4 of Tarragona.
Nàstic argued that the case was closed too early. It pointed to differences between the referee’s match report and a report from the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s police force, as evidence of possible document falsification.
The court said those discrepancies did not have criminal relevance. It noted that the two documents were produced from different locations inside the stadium, so their versions were not necessarily incompatible.
On the sports corruption allegation, the court accepted that Eder Mallo received a professional promotion after the match. However, it said there was no evidence linking that promotion to the result of the game.
The ruling fully confirms the dismissal of the case. The dismissal remains provisional, so the case could only be reopened if new, relevant facts or evidence appear. Nàstic could also seek a Constitutional Court appeal if it believes a fundamental right was breached during the procedure, although that court would not review the criminal case itself. For more Catalonia-wide news, see our news page.
