- The victim has denounced the “permanent” attacks carried out between 1998 and 2001. The Feminist Network of Gernika has called a demonstration to denounce the “complicity” of the basketball club. The adolescent was 13 years old when the first sexual abuse occurred and the aggressor 31.
Mario López, former Gernika basketball team coach KESB, investigates a club teenager for sexual abuse for three years. According to the complaint, the attacks occurred between July 1998 and 2001. When the first sexual abuse occurred, the victim was 13 years old and the aggressor 31. In addition, she has denounced “permanent threats” and “control”. Lopez is not a coach today, but he has been responsible for sports for the club until he was removed on Sunday.
The girl reported last June, after almost two decades. It shows that the attacks started at the coach's home while watching a game. At the time, Lopez was a technician at the Women's League club. From there they are repeated, especially in the aggressor's house and on some sports trip. “They were targeted at sexual freedom and acts of physical violence. All this, in the context of Lopez’s superiority with the victim by age and position,” said the lawyer. According to this, he raped her and forced her to do felonies.
The Spanish Basketball Federation condemns the attacks. He also states that he was aware of this on 29 October, when he received a complaint against the club. The Federation prohibits López from participating in any competition until the “final judgment” occurs. The club Gernika KESB has pointed out that it complies with the protocols of these cases and that they have “separated” from López.
Various street agents
The Feminist Network of Gernika-Lumo will hold a demonstration on Monday at 19:00. The team denounces the “complicity” of the basketball club. The members of the Feminist Network explained that when they heard the case, Lopez was a coach of a children’s campus and was expected to be a coach of the first League team in the 2023-2024 season. At the beginning of the summer, they asked the club to withdraw from their coach position and the club refused: "They told us that there was consensus and that they would do so both from the Board and from sponsors and players to keep us as coaches."
On Monday at 16:00 a.m., the Allende Salazar school board and the association of parents will protest at the center, as the victim was a school student.