The Mexican singer Sasha Sokol has denounced the producer of Televisa Luis de Llano for “moral damages”, as reported in a statement by the artist’s legal team. “Mr. De Llano promoted and initiated a romantic relationship with her when she was a 14-year-old girl,” Sokol’s lawyers have said. “Recently,” the letter continues, “Mr. De Llano publicly boasted of this relationship by re-victimizing Sasha Sokol.” The singer, now 52, rose to fame in the 1980s with the pop band Timbiriche; it was in those years that De Llano represented her. The singer’s defense has expressed that it is “outrageous” that the producer recognizes “the existence of a romantic relationship with a girl 25 years younger in a context of total asymmetry”.
The lawsuit was admitted for processing, according to the team representing Sokol, and De Llano has already been notified. The lawyers have explained that with the lawsuit they want the court to declare that “Luis de Llano’s conduct, both in the 1980s and now, is illegal and caused moral damage to the affected person.” In addition, they hope that justice will force the Televisa producer to request a public apology “for his actions and statements” and that the court establish compensation. The amount, the lawyers have expressed, will be delivered to an organization that fights against child sexual abuse.
The civil trial was admitted for processing and Mr. de Llano has already been notified.
The lawsuit requests that the courts declare that there was unlawful conduct by Mr. de Llano that caused moral damage in various aspects to Sasha Sokol.
— Sasha Sokol (@SashaSokol) July 19, 2022
In the statement released this Monday night, it is read that with the civil action against De Llano Sokol he hopes to “inspire other victims to denounce their stories of abuse.” “The sexual abuse of minors is a very serious issue. It produces such deep damage to the victims that, on many occasions, it takes decades to process them before making the decision to denounce their abusers,” the letter says. The artist’s lawyers have told EL PAÍS that they will not make any more statements for now.
Sokol first publicly accused de Llano on March 8, while thousands of women marched in Mexico against sexist violence. She did it with a message on Twitter: “I write this crying. I can no longer – nor should I – remain silent. “When the relationship started I was 14 and he was 39. I was in Vaselina with Timbiriche and I was clearly a girl. We were together for almost four years, ”explained the singer on her social networks. “It was very hard for me to leave him, he was a powerful man in the industry; my representative and my producer. I was very afraid that by separating my career would be hurt, ”she continued.
Singer he was defending himself against De Llano’s statements, who days before in a television program had commented that he had come to fall in love with the teenager. “Yes I had an affair with Sasha. I fell in love and she sent me to hell, ”said the producer in the interview with veteran host Yordi Rosado. “I admit it, we lived together a lot and I was very much in love with her and one day he told me nothing to do and we still continue to work together for 10 more years,” he added. According to De Llano, and contrary to what Sokol defends, the relationship lasted six months.
“What were all the girls looking for?” the representative, now 77, asked in the interview. “A father image. I think that’s where it was [lo de Sokol]”, he pointed. The producer, who became one of the most powerful men on Mexican television, has not made public statements about the lawsuit until Tuesday morning, but at the end of March he issued a statement asking for forgiveness, but assuring that the statements were “false speculations and accusations”. De Llano also argued that “the facts concern the personal lives of two public figures.” “Their relationship,” he said, “was always open and transparent.”
Sokol contradicted that version of De Llano and assured that the statements were “false”: “He abused me then and abuses me today by manipulating the truth. By wanting to minimize it to exempt him from responsibility in the facts ”. “From the age of 14 I wanted to believe that I was responsible for what happened. Today I understand that my only responsibility was to remain silent. As long as women in my situation do not dare to speak the truth, there will continue to be men like Luis de Llano, ”she assured.
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Singer Sasha Sokol denounces producer Luis de Llano for “moral damage”