Democratization
Society becoming more democratic
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| December 8 2024 |
Arab Spring
The Assad regime collapses during a major offensive led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia and is granted asylum, marking the end of 54 years of Ba'athist rule and 13 years of civil war.
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| 2023 | The High Court of England and Wales dismissed the harassment case against Juan Carlos I, stating the court had no jurisdiction over the matter. |
| March 2023 |
Arab Spring
Some prisoners from the UAE-94 case completed their sentences, yet continued to be imprisoned without legal basis.
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| 2022 | Juan Carlos I won an appeal asserting his immunity from the allegations related to the years 2012-2014. |
| March 2022 | Spanish prosecutors closed all cases against Juan Carlos, mirroring the decision taken by Swiss prosecutors earlier. |
| 2021 |
Arab Spring
A decade after the initial uprising, the Bahraini regime continues its systematic suppression of dissent, targeting human rights defenders, journalists, Shiite political groups, and social media critics.
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| December 2021 | Swiss prosecutors dropped all cases against Juan Carlos due to the impossibility of proving any illegality. |
| July 2021 |
Arab Spring
Amnesty International called for the immediate release of 60 prisoners from the UAE-94 case, who remained detained nine years after their initial arrest.
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| February 25 2021 | Juan Carlos I paid 4 million euros to the Spanish Tax Agency in order to avoid new tax offenses related to private flights he took. |
| 2020 |
Arab Spring
Saad Hariri resigned as Prime Minister of Lebanon during ongoing protests.
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| 2020 | Juan Carlos I attended a private celebration at the Royal Palace of El Pardo to commemorate his granddaughter Leonor's 18th birthday. |
| 2020 | Since relocating, Juan Carlos I has visited Spain regularly, primarily to the town of Sanxenxo to engage in one of his favorite activities, sailing. |
| 2020 | Sayn-Wittgenstein filed a harassment case against Juan Carlos in London, claiming coercion regarding the return of money after their breakup. |
| December 2020 | Juan Carlos paid 678,393.72 euros to Spain's tax agency for defrauded money related to the use of opaque credit cards between 2016 and 2018, marking an admission of fraud. |
| August 2020 | Goes into self-imposed exile from Spain over allegedly improper business ties in Saudi Arabia. |
| August 17 2020 | The Royal Household publicly confirmed that Juan Carlos I had been in the United Arab Emirates since 3 August, having arrived there by private plane from Vigo Airport. |
| August 7 2020 | It was speculated that Juan Carlos I might have fled to multiple countries, but on this date, it was confirmed that he had arrived in the United Arab Emirates, specifically at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. |
| August 3 2020 | The Royal Household announced that Juan Carlos I wished to relocate from Spain due to increased media scrutiny about his business dealings in Saudi Arabia. He had left a letter to his son about this decision. |
| June 2020 | The public prosecutor's office of the Supreme Court of Spain agreed to investigate Juan Carlos's role as a facilitator in the high-speed rail connecting Mecca and Medina, considering events after his abdication in June 2014. |
| March 2020 | Swiss authorities began investigating Juan Carlos in March 2020 concerning a $100 million gift to Sayn-Wittgenstein in 2012, linked to alleged kick-back fees from Saudi Arabia. |
| March 15 2020 | The Royal Household announced that Felipe VI would renounce any inheritance from his father and that Juan Carlos would lose his public stipend from the State's General Budget. |
| March 14 2020 | The Telegraph reported that Felipe VI, Juan Carlos's son and the current King of Spain, appeared as the second beneficiary of the Lucum Foundation, which received a €65 million donation from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. |
| December 20 2019 |
United States invasion of Panama
The Panamanian government officially declared December 20 as a National Day of Mourning, to be marked by lowering the national flag to half-staff.
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| August 2019 |
Tunisian revolution
The United States committed $335 million in aid to Tunisia, to be distributed over five years to support its democratic transition and fund development projects and initiatives.
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| August 24 2019 | King Juan Carlos had heart surgery. |
| June 2019 | Following the allegations made by Sayn-Wittgenstein, demands for an investigation into Juan Carlos for corruption emerged in early June 2019. |
| June 2 2019 | Juan Carlos I officially retired from public life, five years after his abdication. |
| May 27 2019 | Juan Carlos I announced his intention to retire from public life in a letter to his son Felipe. |
| April 2019 |
Arab Spring
Military leader Khalifa Haftar launches an offensive to take Tripoli, Libya, representing ongoing conflict and counter-revolutionary efforts in the region.
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| April 2019 |
Arab Spring
Uprisings in Algeria and Sudan successfully force the abdication of long-serving presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Omar al-Bashir, marking a renewed wave of popular resistance inspired by the original Arab Spring.
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| 2018 |
Arab Spring
Haider al-Abadi resigned as Prime Minister of Iraq, part of a new wave of protests sometimes called the Second Arab Spring.
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| 2018 |
Gender violence and rape in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition
Antonio González Pacheco was finally investigated in Madrid following seven complaints alleging crimes against humanity, with only one case focusing on torture-related offenses.
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| 2018 | Juan Carlos I was present at events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution of 1978. |
| October 2018 |
Gender violence and rape in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition
A new line of investigation into sexual abuse by the Franco regime was admitted in the National Criminal and Correctional Court No. 1 of Buenos Aires.
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| June 2018 | In mid-2018, recordings were leaked to the press of Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn alleging that Juan Carlos received kick-backs from commercial contracts, particularly regarding the construction of the Haramain high-speed railway in Saudi Arabia. |
| April 2018 | Juan Carlos was admitted to hospital for surgery on his right knee. |
| 2017 |
Arab Spring
Projections showed Syria's economy would continue to contract by almost 7% due to large-scale emigration caused by civil war.
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| 2016 |
Arab Spring
World Bank reported Tunisia's unemployment remained high at 15.3%, a significant increase from pre-revolution levels.
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| March 16 2016 |
Gender violence and rape in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition
A landmark case about Francoist sexual and gender violence was filed in Argentina by Women's Link, naming six women victims: five who were murdered (Margalida Jaume Vendrel, Daria and Mercedes Buzadé Adroher, Pilar Sánchez Lladrés, and Matilde Lanza Vaz) and Lidia Falcón, who was repeatedly imprisoned between 1960 and 1974.
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| 2015 |
Tunisian revolution
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their crucial role in building a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia following the revolution.
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| December 2015 | Juan Carlos I attended the inauguration of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina. |
| October 2015 |
Tunisian revolution
President Beji Caïd Essebsi renewed the state of emergency for three months due to previous terror attacks.
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| March 2015 | Juan Carlos I attended the inauguration of Tabaré Vázquez as president of Uruguay. |
| January 22 2015 |
Arab Spring
Houthi rebels overthrew the replacement government, initiating the Yemeni Civil War and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
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| 2014 |
Gender violence and rape in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition
Initial attempts were made in Spain's National Court to bring charges against Antonio González Pacheco.
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| 2014 | A miniseries was released that depicted the life of Juan Carlos I from 1948 to 1993. |
| 2014 | Allegations related to harassment against Juan Carlos continued from the time he was still King. |
| November 23 2014 |
Arab Spring
Presidential election was held, marking the completion of Tunisia's transition to a democratic state.
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| October 26 2014 |
Arab Spring
Tunisia held its first parliamentary elections since the 2011 Arab Spring, with the secular Nidaa Tounes party gaining popularity over Ennahdha.
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| June 2014 | Juan Carlos I attended the second inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos as president of Colombia. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles United States invasion of Panama, Juan Carlos I, Gender violence and rape in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition, Arab Spring & Tunisian revolution, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.