The Supreme Court annuls the sentence of a man who spent 15 years in prison for being confused with a rapist from Barcelona

The defense relies on a semen report that was not considered at trial because the experts did not come to testify

MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court (TS) has annulled the conviction of Ahmed Tommouhi, a man who was imprisoned for 15 years for two sexual assaults in the 1990s after being mistaken for his physical resemblance to a rapist from Barcelona.

The magistrates have estimated the appeal that the man presented against the sentence of the Provincial Court of Barcelona that sentenced him as the author of two crimes of rape and two misdemeanors of injuries to 24 years and 22 days in prison. The Supreme Court has advanced the ruling this Thursday and it is expected that in the coming days it will make the full sentence public.

The Criminal Chamber met this week to discuss Tommouhi's case after last January --against the Prosecutor's criteria-- allowed the defense to present the appeal for review given the "elements of evidence and new facts" presented by the convicted person.

As stated in the order by which the defense was allowed to present the appeal, to which this news agency has had access, among the evidence provided by the defense is --among others-- the assessment of a report that was not taken into consideration at trial.

Specifically, a report of a trace of semen recovered from the victim's underwear that was analyzed in 1992 by the Scientific Police of Barcelona, ​​but that "never" came to the attention of the court because the experts did not come to testify "despite be an admitted proof". From the defense they have insisted that said report shows that the rest of the semen recovered "does not correspond" to Tommouhi.

The list of evidence also includes the testimony of the experts, as well as the statement of the victim - whose testimony was "the only evidence taken into consideration by the Provincial Court" of Barcelona for the sentence - and which he later acknowledged in an interview "his mistake in identifying" Tommouhi.

The problems for this man began in 1991 when there were several rapes in the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona. He and his compatriot Abderrazak M. were jailed. However, a 1993 Civil Guard report stated that there were no indications that the two men knew each other.

Tommouhi was initially accused of 17 crimes, but ended up being sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for four rapes and one robbery. However, the only evidence against him was the alleged "acknowledgments" by the victims.

Abderrazak M., who also always maintained his innocence and did not accept compensation of 18 million pesetas from the State after the annulment of his sentence by the Supreme Court, died of a heart attack in prison in the year 2000.

In 1995 the Police arrested another man, Antonio G.C., who physically resembled Tommouhi, for several violations very similar to those in 1991.

In addition, the Civil Guard was able to demonstrate that one of the four violations that Tommouhi was accused of was committed by Antonio G.C., thanks to DNA evidence. However, from the other three violations, no analyzable tissues or biological remains were preserved, so Tommouhi was still charged with three sexual assaults.

He spent 15 years in jail awaiting a pardon that never came, which the Supreme Court had recommended and which the chief prosecutor of Catalonia, José María Mena, had requested in 1999. Neither the PP nor the PSOE executives dared to grant it to a man convicted of four violations, although the Socialists had claimed it when they were in opposition.

It should be remembered that in June 2000, the Supreme Court denied the defense the necessary authorization to file an appeal for review, considering that the doubts about Tommouhi's participation that the new evidence could raise were not "sufficient" to establish "unequivocally and conclusive the innocence of the condemned".