The mother of a young Spanish woman who died by euthanasia after alleging she had been repeatedly raped has formally reported the men she believes were responsible to Spain’s Public Prosecutor’s Office. Yolanda Ramos took the step after reading detailed accounts of the alleged attacks written by her daughter, Noelia Castillo, in a personal diary handed to her mother on the day of her death.
Castillo, 25, died by euthanasia on 26 March 2026, following a 601-day legal battle that repeatedly delayed the procedure while her father, Geronimo Castillo, challenged her request through multiple Spanish courts. Before her death, every court that examined the case, including Spain’s highest courts, ruled that Castillo had the mental capacity to make a free and informed decision to undergo euthanasia. A final attempt to halt the procedure at the European Court of Human Rights was also rejected shortly before she died.
What Noelia Castillo alleged
In interviews given before her death, Castillo said she had been raped by her former partner, with whom she had a four-year relationship, on an occasion when she had taken sleeping pills. She also alleged she was assaulted by two men in a nightclub, and separately said she had been drugged by a waiter in Salou before being raped by three men in a gang attack. According to Castillo, that gang rape took place just three or four days before she attempted to take her own life in 2022 by jumping from a fifth-floor window, an attempt that left her paraplegic and living with constant pain for the remainder of her life. She went on to become one of the youngest people in Spain to die by euthanasia.
Castillo recounted both alleged rapes to her mother before her death, according to lawyers involved in the case, and had separately documented the details in her personal diary.
Mother decides to speak to prosecutors
Yolanda Ramos has now formally asked Spain’s Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the alleged rapes, saying her daughter’s diary entries identified what had happened to her. “I have decided to report the men who caused my daughter so much harm,” Ramos said. “I am doing this because I feel it is what she wanted.” Describing the moment she came to that decision, she said: “Noelia spoke about the rapes on television, and on the very day she died, she gave me her diary. And when I read it, I understood many things. I feel that my daughter wanted the whole truth to come out someday. That’s why I’ve decided to go to the Prosecutor’s Office, because I can’t just stand idly by.”
The legal action is being supported by Christian Lawyers, the same conservative advocacy group that had previously backed Geronimo Castillo’s attempt to block his daughter’s euthanasia request. The group has asked prosecutors to identify and pursue those allegedly responsible for the assaults.
A case that divided Spain
Castillo’s death reignited a broader national debate over Spain’s 2021 euthanasia law, with supporters framing her case as a matter of personal autonomy and opponents arguing that more should have been done to address her psychological suffering before her request was granted. Following her death, Spain’s Public Prosecutor’s Office separately moved to dismiss a different legal complaint that had been filed against members of the medical committee who approved her euthanasia request, stating there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on their part.
In one of her final television interviews, Castillo said she simply wanted to “leave in peace” after years of physical and psychological suffering.
This story discusses sexual assault, suicide and assisted dying. If you have been affected by any of these issues, support is available — please reach out to a relevant helpline or support service in your area.
