San Sebastián (EFE)
Fátima Hacine-Bacha, mother of Santiago Coca, the 17-year-old minor who died after being beaten outside a San Sebastian nightclub, considers that the escape of one of the six accused of the death of her son means that the trial for this alleged crime, which should start on March 3, will “wobble”.
Fátima Hacine-Bacha has made this reflection in an interview with EFE along with her eldest son, Iker Coca, Santi’s brother, after learning last Friday that one of the six defendants in this case has been on the run since last October, when he completed one of the appearances in court to which he was obliged to maintain his provisional freedom.
The trial falters
The fatal attack took place at dawn on April 26, 2019 outside a central San Sebastian nightclub where, after being beaten, Santiago Coca was treated by several health teams who later transferred him to the Donostia Hospital where he died after staying for two days. in coma.
The Ertzaintza detained seven young people, although the Duty Court only ordered provisional detention for six of them: three Romanian boys, one of Algerian origin, another Moroccan and a Spaniard.
In 2020 the six agreed to provisional release, however the young man of Algerian origin, now on the run, violated these conditions and returned to prison until reaching the legal maximum of two years.
Precautionary measures
After being released again, last October he stopped complying with the precautionary measures to evade justice again, a few days after the trial.
Now, Fátima Hacine admits that the possibility that the remaining five defendants could also flee has not even been raised because, as she has pointed out, “if there is one who escapes, the trial is already staggering.”
“It doesn’t matter one or two, we are all on edge and I think the system has to make a very strong and deep reflection.”
“It doesn’t matter one or two, we are all on edge and I think the system has to make a very strong and deep reflection and change certain parameters, laws, regulations and of course be much more agile over time,” he indicated.
He explained, in this sense, that the four years that have elapsed so far constitute a long period of time “that plays in favor of the accused, who can manipulate the evidence and even flee”
Santi Coca’s mother assures that she does not understand how “having other experiences from the past” Justice maintains “parameters” and “laws” that allow “this to happen” and that now lead the family to “be in suspense without knowing yet ” if the “macro trial” planned for these events from March 3 to 17 is going to be held.
Negligence of professionals
In any case, she has not hidden that it was a “surprise” for her that this defendant fled because after what happened on the previous occasion in which she did not comply with the precautionary measures, she was confident that now “she was going to be appearing in the court every fortnight.”
In his opinion, this flight constitutes a “negligence on the part of the professionals and technicians who have to handle this case” that leads the family to “agonize more, eternize more – the case – and suffer more.”
“We are always going to suffer because they have killed my son, but being able to close a chapter also seems important to us and anyone understands it”, summarized Fátima who, however, has been confident that the trial “will take place” despite the absence of one of the defendants, although he prefers not to pronounce on this matter yet because “also the Prosecutor’s Office”, his own lawyer and the rest of the parties have to pronounce themselves.
empathy of the people
However, he congratulated himself on the fact that, as he recalled, since Santi’s death, people have been “very sensitive and quite empathetic” with her because “they recognize themselves” in this type of case in which “semi-organized gangs commit crimes and then there is no consequence”.
For this reason, he considers that the jury in charge of prosecuting the death of his son “will also be sensitive” and, if necessary, will not be carried away “by the fact that one of the defendants is missing” and take into account that “The rest are just as guilty as the one who has fled.”
trust the system
For his part, his son Iker, Santi’s older brother, has assured that facing the trial will be “strong” for the family that will have to “relive” what happened “for the second time”, although he still does not know if Finally, it will be held on the scheduled dates because after the leak “there are several options” and it is still necessary to wait to find out “which is the most appropriate”.
Regarding the escape of one of the defendants, he said that it is “a shame” that he escaped and “above all that they allowed him to, because he could have been locked up.”
In spite of everything, this young man has said “to trust the system”, at the same time that he has asked that the defendants “be given the longest prison sentence possible”. “For my brother and for the other criminals who do the same to see that it is not so easy to get away with it”, he has finished.
