Prosecution requests to shelve case of soldiers raffling prostitute to raise funds

The public prosecutor has requested to shelve the case against a group of soldiers based in Barcelona who allegedly intended to raffle a prostitute to raise funds in early December.

The soldiers stationed in the Catalan capital's Bruc barracks organized the raffle, but the prosecution view the lottery as "completely fake," and say there had never been an actual interest in hiring the woman's services.

As no real person was undertaking the services, the prosecutor announced on Wednesday they believe no crimes were committed and no "hate crime" took place.

Just a few hours after the raffle was revealed, the Spanish army took the news to the public prosecutor, despite saying they were not formally aware of the comments because they were not made in any "official chat."

In fact, the potential lottery was organized in a non-official WhatsApp chat with 70 people, all members of the army, a sergeant, and another official launched the raffle with the services of "a companion" as the prize – they set it up in the chat and posters of it were hung in the barracks.

They had organized a dinner, and whoever paid €25 for it was automatically participating in it – those who did not want to attend the dinner but still wanted to take part in the raffle had to pay €3 per ticket, with a maximum of 52 tickets per person.

At the time, sources of Spain's defense ministry said that if the story were true, some soldiers would have gone against "the institution's values," especially those relating to equality and respect for women.

When they news about the raffle was first broken, it had sparked outcry among politicians in Catalonia and in the Spanish army.

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau said she was "outraged" at the revelations, asked for an investigation, and made clear she is leading a "proudly feminist" city.