/ 7 September 2012

Insults rain down on Spanish councillor over sex video

The Socialist Party's Elena Valenciano
The Socialist Party's Elena Valenciano

 

But many have also rallied to support the Socialist opposition politician Olvido Hormigos, a married teacher and mother of two.

Spanish reporters and photographers descended on the central village of Los Yebenes, population 6 500, to cover her attendance on Thursday at a council meeting, where she was greeted with booing and sexual insults.

Her ordeal began on August 8 when a video which shows her alone and apparently engaging in a sexual act, recorded on a cellphone, began to circulate on a mobile telephone messaging network.

Hormigos said the images were published without her permission.

Spanish media said it was unclear whether the video was recorded for her husband or for a 27-year-old footballer described as her "close friend", who has reportedly been declared a suspect by a judge.

On Monday, Hormigos had said she would resign her post on the village council, but on Thursday, after receiving a wave of support on online social media networks, she announced she had decided to stay.

"Don't resign over this, Olvido. Don't even think of it," the Socialist Party's number two, Elena Valenciano, wrote on Twitter.

Even the conservative Popular Party's powerful Madrid regional president, <a href="https://twitter.com/EsperanzAguirre" target="_blank">Esperanza Aguirre</a>, supported her: "For the defence of your privacy," she said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/EsperanzAguirre/status/243673935265267712" target="_blank">Twitter message</a> with the hashtag: #Olvidonodimitas (Olvidodontresign).

Hormigos defended herself before the media on Thursday: "I feel like a victim. I didn't commit the crime, it is a video that has been broadcast without my consent," she said. &ndash; AFP