Rita Barberá

María Rita Barberá Nolla (16 July 1948 – 23 November 2016) was a Spanish politician and the Mayor of Valencia, Spain from 1991 until 2015.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Barberá and the second or maternal family name is Nolla.
Rita Barberá
Mayor of Valencia
In office
5 July 1991 – 13 June 2015
Preceded byClementina Ródenas
Succeeded byJoan Ribó
Spanish Senator
for designation of the Corts Valencianes
In office
23 July 2015 – 23 November 2016
Personal details
Born(1948-07-16)16 July 1948
Valencia, Spain
Died23 November 2016(2016-11-23) (aged 68)
Madrid, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Political partyPeople's Party
(1976–2016); suspended
OccupationPolitician

Biography and political career

Born in Valencia to a prominent industrial and political family, she was a member of the National Council of the People's Party of Spain and was a Representative in the Valencian regional Parliament (Corts Valencianes). She turned down an offer to become a national deputy at the 2008 Spanish General Election,[1] but her party made her a senator after she lost the 2015 municipal elections. As such, she became answerable only to the Tribunal Supremo, and the ordinary judge in charge of the Taula corruption case could therefore not indict her like the rest of her team.[2][3]

2016 judicial case and death
Rita Barberá in 2015

On 21 April 2016, this investigating judge therefore requested her indictment for money laundering to the Tribunal Supremo.[4] On 13 September 2016 the Tribunal Supremo opened a formal investigation, usually the step before an indictment, and the People's Party asked her to resign her senate seat.[5] She chose instead to formally leave the party and to become an independent senator, remaining answerable only to the Tribunal Supremo and keeping her senator salary.[6] Until her death, she continued to socialize and vote with the party that she had formally left.[7]

Barberá died in Madrid on 23 November 2016 of a heart attack as a result of hepatic cirrhosis. She was in the process of being investigated for money laundering at the time, and had testified to the Tribunal Supremo only two days prior to her death.[8][9]

References
  1. Seis alcaldes del PP concurren como cabeza de lista al Congreso, El País, 17 January 2008
  2. El juez inicia el trámite para pedir al Supremo que impute a Barberá, El País, 14 March 2016
  3. Graft-tainted Spanish politician Rita Barbera dies
  4. Dos jueces piden al Supremo que impute a Rita Barberá por blanqueo de capitales y desobediencia, El País, 21 April 2016
  5. Ximo Puig: "Barberá debe dejar la vida política por decencia" El País, 13 September 2016
  6. Rita Barberá se da de baja en el PP pero se aferra al escaño en el Senado, El País, 14 September 2016
  7. La foto más comentada del estreno de Barberá en el grupo mixto, El País, 29 September 2016
  8. Rita Barberá muere de un infarto en un hotel de Madrid El País, 23 November 2016
  9. Spanish ex-mayor Rita Barbera dies amid corruption case
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