Cáceres, Feb 26 (EFE) Priscila Guevara, will be subjected to interrogation by the parties, although it is likely that they will remain silent when asked by the Prosecutor and the private prosecution.
“They will probably continue in silence, especially when we have been denied that they can testify at the end of the hearing,” said their lawyer, Sylvia Córdoba, when the first day held on February 15 concluded, in which the previous issues were addressed.
In fact, Dumitru and Guevara, in prison since their arrest last July, only responded to questions from their lawyer during their appearance at the investigation phase held on August 4 and did not shed light on the whereabouts of the 47 bottles.
After the interrogation in the session next Monday, it will be the turn of the witness statement. According to Córdoba, about a dozen national police officers and judicial experts have been summoned, as well as many other employees of the Atrio restaurant.
Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution consider that Dumitru, 48 years old and with Romanian and Dutch nationality, and Guevara, 28 years old and a native of Mexico, arrested at the end of July 2022 at the Karasovici Sutorina border post, coming from Montenegro , are the authors of a crime of robbery with force, aggravated by the high value of the wines.
The Public Ministry requests a sentence of four years and six months in prison for each of the defendants and demands compensation for the injured of 1,648,500 euros. The private prosecution, represented by the insurer of the bottles, raises the sentence to five years and one month in prison, and requests compensation of 700,000 euros, according to lawyer Rafael Montes.
Expert evidence will play an important role in assessing and evaluating this economic difference. The first amount responds to the amount that was noted by the owners of Atrio, Toño Pérez and José Polo, days after the robbery, while the second is adjusted to the compensation that they have been able to collect through the insurer.
Only one of the bottles, a “Chateau d’Yquem”, could reach a price of 350,000 euros. In addition, among those stolen there are also 38 “Romanée Conti”, whose average price is 12,000 euros on the Atrio menu, and a “Montrachet Grand Cru 1999 Magnum”, for around 25,500 euros.
Although the defense of the defendants requested a signaling on consecutive days, the trial schedule of the Cacereña Court does not allow this possibility, so the third day will take place on March 1.
On the first day, the parties did not reach an agreement on criminal compliance and the court dismissed the nullity of the proceedings, a claim raised by the defense who understood that “disproportionate and invasive procedures had been carried out on the fundamental rights of those they represented”.
However, it did admit an economic valuation report for the stolen bottles proposed by the insurer’s lawyer despite the fact that the defense considered that it was “untimely” and that, in any case, it would have been important to provide it at the beginning of the proceedings to determine the degree of the offence.
