San Sebastián (EFE) The only one of the six defendants fled from justice, sources in the case have informed EFE.
trial in october
This defendant, of Algerian origin, has had an unknown whereabouts since last October he neglected the obligation to appear periodically before the judicial authority.
This circumstance, together with other precautions such as the withdrawal of his passport, had allowed him to access provisional release pending trial, like the rest of the defendants: three young Romanian men, another of Moroccan origin and a fifth of Spanish nationality. .
The presiding magistrate of the court, who took up the matter on February 13, last week ordered the Ertzaintza, the National Police and the Civil Guard to “proceed with the search and arrest” of the fugitive before the start of the trial. , on March 3.
international arrest warrant
In addition, this same Wednesday he issued an international arrest warrant for his location in the territory of the European Union and declared him in absentia, with which the case against him has been suspended until the fugitive “appears or is found”.
Despite this leak, the procedures for the start of the oral hearing regarding the rest of the defendants continued their course yesterday with the celebration of an appearance for the presentation of possible excuses by some of the candidates for the jury.
During this act, the Prosecutor’s Office already verbally formulated its request to postpone the trial until October in the confidence that the European order issued on Wednesday will be effective.
France or Belgium
In parallel, the representative of the Public Ministry has also presented a letter in which, according to the aforementioned sources, she requests that a “margin” be given so that the international order can act since it is possible that, despite her Algerian origin, The fugitive, who has been in Spain since he was nine years old, has not moved to this country and there are “probabilities” of locating him “in France or Belgium” within a “reasonable” period.
The Prosecutor’s Office recalls in this sense that the order that declared the fugitive in absentia is dated February 22, just two days ago, with which a very long period of time has not yet elapsed without results that could lead one to think that the fugitive “will not appear”.
jury trial
In this way, if the young man is finally located, the jury trial could be held as planned from the outset in the presence of the six defendants.
Once this document has been formalized by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Court will now notify the private prosecution brought by the family of the deceased, the popular action that represents the San Sebastián City Council, and the defenses, which must rule on the matter before make the final decision.
In an interview with EFE on February 21, the victim’s mother, Fátima Hacine-Bacha, has already made progress despite the fact that, in her opinion, the escape of one of the six accused of the death of her son makes the trial for this alleged crime, “wobbles.”
The fatal attack took place in the early hours of April 26, 2019 outside a central San Sebastian nightclub where, after being beaten, Santiago Coca, who was 17 years old at the time, was treated by several health teams who later transferred him to the Hospital. Donostia where he died after spending two days in a coma.
