The ECHR rules in favor of Spain and guarantees that the sentence be served years after it is final

Dismisses the lawsuit of a former civil guard sentenced to jail for falsifying a fine

MADRID, 31 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected, in favor of Spain, the appeal of a former civil guard who was sentenced to three years in prison as the author of a crime of falsifying a public document, committed by fining a woman with the one that had a traffic incident in 2011 when it was out of service. Strasbourg considers that it is not "arbitrary" that he entered prison several years after the sentence was final.

This has been decided by the ECHR, which has opposed accepting the allegations of the former agent, who argued that the Spanish courts had violated principles of the European Convention on Human Rights, such as the right to liberty and security (article 5) in their process. or that there is no penalty without law (article 7).

The former civil guard pointed to these articles due to the expiration of the term to execute the prison sentence that the plaintiff was serving when he filed his lawsuit.

However, the Strasbourg court considers that he was "legally" sentenced to three years in prison and that "the fact of serving that sentence, although several years after it became final, cannot be considered arbitrary."

It was on December 17, 2011 when, while driving off-duty, he got into an argument with a woman over a traffic incident. Then he reported that she had committed two violations.

The Madrid Provincial Court convicted him in 2013 and ordered him to go to prison, pay a fine of more than 1,000 euros and serve two years of disqualification. After nine days, the applicant requested a pardon from the Ministry of Justice.

There, the sentencing court authorized the suspension of the sentence while waiting for the pardon to be granted or not. As the grace measure was still not granted, the Madrid Court, in 2017, ordered that the sentence be carried out, but Justice communicated, then and later in 2019, that the request was pending.

However, in 2019 the suspension fell and he had to go to jail. In addition, the Civil Guard deprived him of his agent status.