The AN orders compensation for a man who contracted tuberculosis after more than a year in provisional prison and was acquitted

But it lowers the amount from the more than 146,000 euros that it claimed to 20,000

MADRID, 4 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court (AN) has ordered compensation for a man who was in provisional prison for more than a year before being acquitted and who, in addition, contracted tuberculosis during his stay in prison and had to sacrifice the horses from his equine farm and sell off the business, although it has reduced the amount from the 146,000 euros that it claimed to 20,000.

In a resolution dated December 12, to which Europa Press has had access, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber agrees with the man, revoking the initial decision of the Ministry of Justice to deny him any compensation.

The appellant was in provisional prison for a total of 451 days, from December 3, 2012 to February 27, 2014, by order of Criminal Court Number 6 of Seville, which was investigating alleged crimes of robbery that he would have committed while serving conviction for other acts. Ultimately, he was acquitted.

After that, he asked that he be compensated with 146,650 euros, 67,650 for the days behind bars; 10,000 because he contracted tuberculosis in that period; another 60,000 for "the forced inactivity of the equine exploitation that he had and the need for sale and slaughter, with the consequent depreciation in the operation due to the urgency of it due to the impossibility of attending to his business and being forced to close it"; 5,100 for the sale of a car; and others for defense expenses.

The National Court believes that "in this case the damage caused must be compensated." In addition to the "non-pecuniary damage" due to preventive imprisonment, the magistrates take into account that the man "presumably contracted the tuberculosis disease in prison, since the medical report regarding said disease is immediately after his release from prison."

For the AN, "it is also compensable for the forced inactivity of the equine farm that he had and the need to sell and slaughter the animals, with depreciation in the operation due to the urgency, given the impossibility of attending to his business and seeing himself in the obligation to close it.

However, it refuses to compensate him for the costs of a solicitor and lawyer, "given that the costs of the proceedings imply a precisely judicial pronouncement on their origin and amount." "And the circumstance related to the sale of a vehicle is not accepted either, because the appellant party has not proven the foundation and origin of the 5,100 euros that he claims for this concept," he adds.

However, the court sets the compensation at 20,000 euros, "which determines the partial estimate of the appeal precisely with this compensatory scope and the consequent dismissal of the claim in the rest."