MADRID – A married couple with American and German citizenship received prison sentences of nearly three years each after a Spanish court found them guilty of confining their three children to their residence for more than three years following pandemic-related anxieties about the outside world.
Spanish authorities convicted both the father and mother on Monday of family abandonment and inflicting psychological damage on their children. However, the court dismissed more severe unlawful detention charges that prosecutors had pursued, which could have resulted in 25-year sentences.
The father holds German citizenship, while the mother possesses dual nationality from both Germany and the United States. Court officials have withheld their identities to safeguard their children – a pair of nine-year-old twins and one 11-year-old.
The court mandated that each parent compensate their children with 30,000 euros (approximately $32,000) per child and removed their parental rights for a minimum of three years and four months.
Authorities took the couple into custody in April 2025 after uncovering that the children had spent several years living in unsanitary conditions at a residence on the outskirts of Oviedo, a northern Spanish city. The children had not attended formal schooling during this period.
The mother’s attorney, Javier Muñoz, defended the family’s situation, stating the children received home-based education and maintained “a stable family life” while being properly nourished.
Muñoz indicated that his clients, who have remained in custody since their arrest, felt “moderately satisfied” with the court’s decision but are contemplating an appeal of the verdict.
