Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has reduced the sentence imposed by the Court of Las Palmas to two local police officers from Mogán (Gran Canaria) who beat up an immigrant dedicated to street vendors in January 2011.
The Supreme Court ratifies the two crimes considered by the Court of Las Palmas – torture, in its modality of serious attack on moral integrity, and injury, for repeatedly and seriously assaulting – the victim, but reduces the sentence, which In the first instance it was seven and a half years in prison, as the mitigation of undue delays was appreciated as very qualified, with a reduction of the sentence by one degree as the procedure lasted ten years until the judgment of the provincial judicial body.
The high court ratifies all civil responsibilities, which imply that the two defendants must jointly and severally indemnify the victim in 20,745 euros for the injuries caused, 2,936 euros for the consequences and 20,000 euros for non-material damage, and also the subsidiary civil liability of the Mogán City Council for these amounts, as reported by its press office on Tuesday.
The partial appraisal sentence with which the Supreme Court has responded to the appeal of cassation presented by the convicted agents and the Mogán City Council denies that their presumption of innocence has been violated because there is no proof of charge against them, as the police officers alleged, when detailing it and justify it in the victim’s statement, which was corroborated by visual witnesses, recording cameras and the medical expert of the injuries caused to the victim.
It does uphold the claim of one of them, who alleged that the mitigation of undue delays was not applied as very qualified, but rather as simple, when the criminal proceedings lasted ten years, as the Chamber understood that “the duration of the proceedings was disproportionate for what that was investigated and judged”.
For this reason, the penalty is reduced by one degree and is imposed for the crime of aggravated injuries of art. 148.1 of the Penal Code (from 2 to 5 years), with the appreciation of the highly qualified mitigation of undue delays reduced by one degree, that of 1 year and 5 months due to the own estimate of the seriousness of the facts, already established by the court that leads to impose it in the lower half.
The penalty for the crime of torture of art. 174 of the Penal Code (from 2 to 6 years), taking into account “the correct classification of the facts as serious due to the concurrent circumstances, the way in which the events occurred, the reiteration of the aggressions and the inherent seriousness of the conducts displayed and the fear and objectification of the victim of the crime”.
When reduced by one degree, it is 1 year and 5 months in prison in its lower half and 4 years and 6 months of absolute disqualification.
Faced with the questioning, by the Mogán City Council, of the sentence imposed as subsidiary civil liability, the Supreme Court emphasizes that “the convicted are Local Police officers, they acted in the exercise of their duties and in the functional dependency of the City Council.” EFE
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