Antoni Asunción Hernández (12 July 1951 – 5 March 2016) was a Spanish politician of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE). He was

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

between 1993 and 1994. He also served as member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

during the V Legislature (1993–1996).

Career

Asunción was born on 12 July 1951 in

Manises Manises (, ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located in the province of Valencia, it had 30,693 inhabitants in 2018 (NSI) and is famous for its pottery and being the location of Valencia Airp ...

. He started his political career as

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

(mayor) of his hometown in the 1970s. He was elected in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and 1983 municipal elections. He subsequently became Deputation President of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. In 1988 he was named Director General of the Penitentiary Institutions under Justice Minister

Enrique Múgica Herzog Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ( ...

. During his period as director he was one of the main designers of the dispersion policy of ETA prisoners. To establish the policy which tried to break ETA prisoner discipline he also worked with the leader of the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

Xabier Arzalluz Xabier Arzalluz Antia (24 August 1932 – 28 February 2019) was a Basque politician, leader of the Basque Nationalist Party from 1979 until 2004. He was a nationalist and a Christian Democrat, considered during the period one of the most power ...

. In the 1993 general elections Asunción obtained a seat in the

for the Electoral District of Valencia, he would serve until 1996. In 1994 he became Minister of Interior in the government of PSOE Prime Minister

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

. During this time Luis Roldán, former Director of the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

, was accused of corruption. Asunción promised that Roldán would be persecuted, and that he would not be able to leave country. When Roldán fled the country Asunción, having been in office for five months, offered his resignation to González, who refused. Asunción then stated that he would just stop coming into work and González subsequently accepted. In the 1999 provincial elections Asunción was elected to the

Corts Valencianes The Corts Valencianes (), commonly known as ''Les Corts'' (), are the main legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana and therefore of the Valencian Community. The main location of the Corts is in the Palace of the Borgias in Valencia, Spain ...

. He tried to become President of the Valencian Government but lost out to Eduardo Zaplana of the People's Party. Several months later he left the Corts, having served between 13 June and 20 September. Asunción then left politics and focused on his business venture for several years. In 2010 he unsuccessfully tried to become Secretary-General of the PSOE of Valencia. The PSOE suspended his membership in 2011, stating that Asunción made numerous allegations of

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

without evidence. In 2013 Asunción supported the Movimiento Ciudadano of

Albert Rivera Alberto Carlos Rivera Díaz (born 15 November 1979), known as Albert Rivera, is a Spanish former politician who was the leader of Citizens from its founding in 2006 until 2019. He was a member of the Parliament of Catalonia (2006–2015) and the ...

Personal life

In June 2015 Asunción was indicted by judge of the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...

, he was charged with fraudulent bookkeeping and

criminal conversion Criminal conversion is a crime, limited to parts of common law systems outside England and Wales, of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's property, at a minimum personal property, but in some jurisdictions also applying to types ...

in a case concerning the sale of his share in the company Acuigroup Maremar to the Banco de Valencia. Asunción had founded and owned the company together with Társilo Piles, President of the Fundación

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, since 1999. In a response before the Audiencia Asunción he blamed the intermediaries of the bank for destroying the company. In December 2014 he had been cleared of the same charges by the Audiencia of Valencia. He died on 5 March 2016 in

, aged 64, after having suffered from an illness for several weeks. Asunción was a cousin of actor

José Sancho José Asunción Martínez (11 November 1944 – 3 March 2013) better known as José Sancho or Pepe Sancho, was a Spanish actor. Over a period of fifty years he appeared extensively in Spanish television and films. He was perhaps best known ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asuncion, Antoni 1951 births 2016 deaths Deputation presidents of Valencia Interior ministers of Spain Mayors of places in the Valencian Community Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 5th Corts Valencianes People from Horta Oest Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians