Friday, March 29

The Justice revokes the dismissal against five agents of ‘the kick in the door’ and orders that they be tried

The Provincial Court of Madrid has revoked the dismissal of the case regarding five of the six agents investigated for breaking into an apartment on Lagasca street almost a year ago with a battering ram to break up an illegal party at the height of contagion, leaving in the hands of the court that sentences around the doubts about its possible illegality.

The magistrates have partially estimated the appeal of the person who lived in the house where the events took place, through the criminal lawyer Juan Gonzalo Ospina, against the order of October 14 that agreed to lift the accusation with respect to five of the six police officers investigated for a crime of trespassing, at the request of the prosecutor.

The events occurred during an illegal party during the confinement due to COVID-19, on March 21, 2021. National Police officers broke down the door of apartment number 18 on Lagasca Street in Madrid, despite the fact that they had neither the consent of the residents nor judicial authorization. The Police accessed its interior at 00.50 hours and then arrested the people who lived in the house.

The judge lifts the accusation against five of the six agents

After the dismissal of the case, Judge Jaime Serret, in charge of the Investigating Court number 28 of Madrid, only charged the sub-inspector of the police operation, an agent who is being investigated in a similar case of what is called ‘kick in the door’.

This type of forced police intervention was endorsed by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the event that it will be tourist flats, an extreme ruled out in this case by the residents of the property when they confirmed before the investigating judge that the tenant had a long-term rental agreement.

In one of the hearings held within the proceedings of the jury, the prosecutor requested the continuation of the procedure only for the head of the operation and the dismissal of the rest of the investigated agents. The State Attorney then demanded to exonerate all the agents.

The representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office considered that they concurred in these “the complete exemption of article 20.7 of the Penal Code, when accessing the house without judicial authorization and without the consent of the residents but in compliance with an order given by their hierarchical superior, the chief of the operation”.

In the new resolution, the Chamber agrees to continue the procedure for trial before the Jury Court against the aforementioned agents of the National Police Corps, maintaining and confirming the rest of said resolution.

In the present case, the Chamber indicates that from the proceedings it is understood that the application or not of the defense of article 20.7 of the Criminal Code “whoever acts in compliance with a duty or in the legitimate exercise of a right, office or position” It is closely linked to the question of the legality of the order, which we understand must be analyzed in court.

“The doubts that arise about the illegality or not of said order and compliance with it by the rest of the agents must be resolved by the sentencing court, in the same way that it must be done with respect to whether the agents acted in the exercise legitimate duty or in the well-founded belief of acting in accordance with the law,” he asserts.

Support to the legal system

The criminal lawyer Juan Gonzalo Ospina has highlighted to Europa Press that “despite the criticism suffered and personal attacks”, they are “very satisfied not only for their client but for what this means for our legal system and for our democratic principles and values, respect for the law and the constitution, not everything goes and the times of kicking the door are behind us”.

Along these lines, he stressed that “the home is inviolable and fundamental rights are the essence of freedom”. “Courageous resolution of our Provincial Court that once again shows that in Spain, despite the prior opinion of the investigating judge and the prosecution, which we never share and that as jurists left us quite surprised, there is a solid rule of law and with it a clear scale of procedural guarantees”, he underlined.

“There is a long way to go and all the parties deserve a fair trial, which is why I call for prudence and not to make value judgments about what might happen,” he concluded.



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