Criminal courts in Alicante: where each one is

What changed with the 2025 reform

Organic Law 1/2025 on measures for the efficiency of the Public Justice Service (Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Público de Justicia) replaced single-judge courts with Courts of First Instance (Tribunales de Instancia), one per judicial district, organised into sections. In districts with specialised courts, such as Alicante, the change took effect on 31 December 2025 (first transitional provision).

In practice, the names change as follows:

• The former investigating court (juzgado de instrucción) is now the Investigating Section (Sección de Instrucción) of the Court of First Instance. Each former court keeps its number as a «seat» (plaza).
• The former criminal court (juzgado de lo penal) is the Criminal Section (Sección de lo Penal).
• The former court for violence against women is the Violence against Women Section (Sección de Violencia sobre la Mujer).
• The juvenile courts and the prison supervision courts become sections with those same names.

If your proceedings began before the reform, they remain with the same court, now under its new name. If your summons says «Sección de Instrucción, plaza n.º 4», that is the former Investigating Court No. 4.

The Alicante Court of First Instance and its criminal sections

The main seat of the Alicante judicial district is at Avenida de Aguilera, 53 (03007 Alicante). According to the directory of the Generalitat Valenciana (the regional government), the following are located at that address:

• Investigating Section (nine seats). It investigates offences committed in the judicial district: it takes statements from the suspect and witnesses, orders investigative steps and decides whether the case goes to trial. It also tries minor offences (delitos leves) (Article 14.1 and 14.2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal or LECrim).
• Criminal Section (eleven seats). It tries offences punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment or by a fine of any amount (Article 14.3 LECrim). Most criminal trials are held here.
• Violence against Women Section (four seats). It investigates gender-based violence offences and, since the reform, also sexual offences where the victim is a woman (Article 14.5 LECrim). We handle these cases through our specialist website, abogadaviolenciadegenero.com.
• Juvenile Section. It deals with offences committed by people aged 14 to 18. More information on our page on juvenile criminal liability.
• Duty Court (Juzgado de Guardia), which we discuss in the next section.

The Prison Supervision Section (Sección de Vigilancia Penitenciaria) of the Alicante Court of First Instance is in a different building: C/ Pardo Gimeno, 43 (03007 Alicante). It oversees the enforcement of prison sentences: leave, classification into a prison regime grade, parole and prisoners’ complaints. We explain this on our page on prison law.

The Alicante Duty Court

The Duty Court operates every day of the year at Avenida de Aguilera, 53. This is where the police take arrested persons to bring them before a judge. Detention may not last longer than strictly necessary and, in any event, no more than seventy-two hours (Article 520.1 LECrim).

The duty court also hears speedy trials in which the accused accepts the facts, rules on many habeas corpus applications and decides whether a person is released or remanded in custody (prisión provisional). If a family member has been arrested, this is when having a lawyer matters most.

The Alicante Provincial Court

The Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial) sits at Plaza del Ayuntamiento, s/n (03002 Alicante), with several sections based in Elche, C/ Abogados de Atocha, 21 (03203). In criminal matters it has two roles:

• It tries the most serious offences, those not assigned to the Criminal Section (Article 14.4 LECrim). If the offence is one of those assigned to a jury, the trial is held before a Jury Court presided over by a judge of the Provincial Court.
• It decides appeals against judgments of the Criminal Sections of the province (Article 790 LECrim) and other appeals against decisions taken during the investigation. You can see how they work on our page on criminal appeals.

The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community

The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice (Tribunal Superior de Justicia) has its registry at C/ Historiador Chabás, 2 (46003 Valencia). It decides appeals against judgments handed down by the Provincial Court at first instance (Article 846 ter LECrim). Above it lies the cassation appeal (recurso de casación) before the Supreme Court.

Prisons in the province

• Fontcalent (Alicante). At Polígono Pla de la Vallonga, s/n, 03113 Alicante, you will find the Alicante Prison for sentenced inmates (Centro Penitenciario de Alicante Cumplimiento) and the Alicante Prison Psychiatric Hospital (Hospital Psiquiátrico Penitenciario de Alicante).
• Villena (Alicante II). Alicante II Prison is next to the A-31 motorway, in the municipality of Villena (03400).

Each prison has its own booking procedure for visits and communications. If your family member is in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence, we can help you with leave, changes of prison regime grade or transfers.

Other judicial districts in the province

If the offence was committed outside the Alicante district, the investigation falls to the Court of First Instance of the place where the events occurred (Article 14.2 LECrim). These are the main seats listed in the Generalitat’s directory. In the smaller districts, a single Civil and Investigating Section handles both civil and criminal matters.

Some sections may be located in buildings other than the main seat. The exact address is always the one shown on your summons.

If you have been summoned to a court in Alicante

1. Read the summons calmly: it states the court (section and seat), the case number, the date and whether you are attending as a suspect (investigado), a witness or an injured party.
2. If you are attending as a suspect, you have the right to attend with a lawyer and not to make a statement. Don’t go without first speaking to the person who will defend you.
3. Gather your documents: the summons, any complaint you have received, messages, medical reports or witnesses who may help you.
4. Arrive in good time with your DNI, NIE or passport. If you don’t speak Spanish, you are entitled to an interpreter.