Is it possible to withdraw a complaint (the so called "denuncia") in Spain?

You filed a complaint, but now you think about it and realize that you don't want to go ahead with it.

Is it possible to withdraw the complaint?. Well, the answer is no, it is not possible to physically remove the complaint from the Court, and that the procedure automatically ceases to exist, disappears, as if nothing had happened.

When you file a complaint, all you really do is activate and start the judicial machinery. And from there, it doesn't matter if you regret it or not, because that machinery has a life of its own. When the complaint reaches the Court, it is a Judge and a Prosecutor who take over, the ones who decide. What you have done basically with the complaint is to make known to the Court some facts. Well, now it is the Judge and the Prosecutor who are investigating whether, indeed, these facts may constitute a crime. Because the Justice Administration of the State cannot remain impassive in the face of a possible crime.

In fact, almost the first thing they are going to do in Court is ask you if you want to be part of that criminal procedure. Technically said, if you want to be a private prosecutor, what is called the "offering of actions" in Spanish Criminal Law.

But what's more, if you reject that offer, the Prosecutor himself can also file an accusation for you, without you. That is, if for example you were beaten, even if you have wanted to forget about it, the Prosecutor will accuse the opposite party of a crime of injury.

The big problem for many people is that even if they want to forget about the procedure, they cannot. Because they will probably call you as a witness. And do not refuse to declare as the remedy could be much worse than the disease. And we are not even discussing in this post the severe consequences that can be suffered if eventually it was considered that the complaint was false or that there was a false testimony.

In summary, this is a very complicated situation where you have to have everything very clear and it is not advisable to do anything without the advice of a lawyer who could successfully manage a possible dismissal of the procedure.