The Barcelona Provincial Prosecutor’s Office will investigate complaints of alleged conduct of sexual harassment, psychological coercion, abuse and exploitation linked to professor emeritus Ramon Flecha and the environment of the CREA research group that the University of Barcelona (UB) transferred to it. “An investigation will be opened by the new section which will be created within the prosecution for violence against children and adolescents, which will also concern sexual assaults on adults,” indicated sources from the prosecution.
The UB, which also confirmed the opening of the procedure, indicated on December 22 that it had transferred the complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office after receiving a preliminary report from an independent commission, made up of experts in gender violence and institutional harassment, which collected the complaints for four months. testimonies of 11 plaintiffs. Abusive behavior, sexual and psychological coercion, personal and professional exploitation or humiliating and intimidating practices are some of the events reported by people who were part of the CREA, which the report describes as a “highly controlled coercive group”, with Flecha at its head.
CREA (acronym for Community of Researchers on Excellence for All) was created in 1991 by Flecha as a research center in the field of education and later also specialized in sexual violence. A day after the University of Barcelona transferred the complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, on December 23, CREA announced its dissolution “immediately” with the aim of avoiding “further harm to its members”.
In addition to submitting the facts to the prosecution, UB announced its intention to appear as a private prosecutor if the criminal proceedings progress. The rector of the university, Joan Guàrdia, received the report on December 19, accompanied by a psychological expertise on the reliability of the testimonies and a criminal complaint that assesses their legal relevance, which motivated the immediate activation of precautionary measures at the university and the referral of the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Suspensions of ACI members
Likewise, the UB activated disciplinary files with protective suspension of employment of two members of the teaching and research staff of CREA and withdrew the status of honorary professor from a third party, in addition to maintaining the suspension of the status and functions of Ramón Flecha as emeritus professor of sociology. The commission of experts, created in August and made up of specialists in gender-based violence and institutional harassment, has not yet completed its investigation and could last up to 18 months minimum.
The commission will collect statements from five other complainants, until reaching a total of 16, to analyze possible academic and ethical irregularities of which you became aware during the process, always respecting the decision of the prosecutor’s office regarding the powers in the development of a possible criminal case. At the same time, the UB has activated psychological support measures for all those affected, current and past, and has adopted precautionary provisions to prevent academic or professional merits linked to the CREA from being valued in the selection or promotion processes of professors.
Complaints since 2004
The formal complaint received in July 2025 is the first presented to the UB after the previous complaint files in 2004 and 2016, which reported internal conflicts, alleged management irregularities and psychological violence, without sufficient criminal evidence being apparent. The CREA group ceased to be an internal structure of the UB in 2015, when it began to function as an external “research community”.
The preliminary report reveals that starting in 2015, the coercive nature of the group intensified. The facts described by the plaintiffs include alleged abusive behavior, sexual and psychological coercion, personal and professional exploitation, as well as humiliating and intimidating practices, which allegedly operated “systematically” through a hierarchical management structure in the hands of Ramón Flechawhom the report designates as the alleged author of the majority of the events investigated.
The UB considers that the facts reported by the complainants are “unjustifiable, intolerable and repugnant severity“, and reaffirmed its commitment to act forcefully to ensure a “safe and violence-free” university environment.
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