Spanish flamenco singer Diego 'El Cigala' spared imprisonment for assaulting ex-partner despite sentence exceeding two years

Legal

Despite the prosecution's opposition, the court has granted the singer the benefit of suspended sentences, considering that none of them exceeds 24 months in prison

Juan Cano

Flamenco singer Diego Ramón Jiménez Salazar, better known as 'El Cigala', will not serve in prison his 25-month sentence for assaulting his ex-partner. The court has granted the artist a suspended sentence, even though the total sentence exceeds two years.

A court in Jerez de la Frontera convicted Diego 'El Cigala' in December 2024 of three counts of domestic abuse and one count of humiliation. It imposed sentences of eleven, eight and six months for the three abuse offences (25 months in total), plus 25 days of home confinement for the fourth offence. Later, in July 2025, the Cadiz Provincial Court rejected his appeal and upheld the ruling.

The judge found him guilty of a first offence of domestic abuse linked to gender-based violence for an assault on the victim at a hotel in Jerez. The court sentenced him to six months in prison and imposed a restraining order banning contact or approach within 200 metres for two years.

It also found him guilty of a second offence of domestic abuse linked to gender-based violence for an assault at a hotel in Palafrugell (Girona). The court imposed eight months in prison and another two-year ban on contacting or approaching the victim within 200 metres.

The court also convicted him of aggravated domestic abuse, committed in the presence of the children, for another assault at the couple's shared home in Jerez. It sentenced him to eleven months in prison and imposed a two-year restraining order keeping him at least 200 metres away from the victim.

Finally, the ruling included a conviction for a minor, ongoing offence of verbal abuse within the domestic setting. It imposed 25 days of home confinement at an address away from the victim, as well as a six-month restraining order banning contact or approaching within 200 metres.

When upholding the sentence, the provincial court stated that the victim's testimony was "clear, consistent, coherent and aligned with what she reported in her complaint, before the investigating court and also before professionals at the institute of legal medicine", and therefore considered it "fully credible over time".

Enforcement of the sentence

Once the conviction became final, enforcement proceedings began. The defence filed a request on 9 March asking for suspension of the sentence. The prosecution opposed the request.

The court ultimately granted conditional suspension, finding that he met the requirements, namely that none of the individual sentences exceeded 24 months,and that there was "no indication of a risk of reoffending" or "risk to the victim's personal safety".

In the order, the judges said that serving the prison sentence would be "extremely burdensome and unnecessary at this stage" for the purpose of reforming his previous conduct.

The criminal division set a suspension period of 26 months, which it considered appropriate to the offences committed. It made the suspension conditional on Diego 'El Cigala' not reoffending during that time, complying with the restraining order of at least 200 metres from the victim and attending a training programme on sex education, equality and gender-based violence. The court also ordered him to pay a 1,200-euro fine.