The National Court agrees to keep 'The Queen of Coca' in prison for "the risk of flight"

The Chamber dismisses the appeal filed by his defense, which insisted that he has always been available to Justice

MADRID, 27 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Criminal Chamber of the National High Court has agreed to keep Ana María Cameno, known as 'La Reina de la Coca', in prison before the "risk of flight" after being sentenced to 16 years in prison for having led a network of drug trafficker that in 2014 sold more than 100 kilos of cocaine for about 15 million euros that were laundered through transfers to Panama.

In an order, to which Europa Press has had access, the Second Section dismisses the appeal filed by his defense against the order of last September 28, which decreed his provisional admission to prison despite the fact that the sentence for the that was sentenced was not yet final.

Already then, the AN declined the request for Cameno's representation, focusing on his "accredited links described in the sentence with drug trafficking operations with an organized structure." At that time, it was agreed that she be imprisoned due to the possibility that at the time of "making the sentence effective" Cameno herself would flee from the "Spanish jurisdiction".

In her appeal, the lawyer for 'La Reina de la Coca' assured that she had already been in provisional prison for as long as the law allowed (four years). In addition, she insisted that, after leaving prison, she appeared before her AN every Monday without the need for bail, also highlighting her family, social and work roots in Spain.

For the Chamber, however, these are "two totally different situations." "The first, prior to the trial and sentencing, in which the accused faces the possibility of being sentenced to the sentence requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office, but also the possibility of an acquittal or conviction. lower; and a second situation in which a court, in view of the evidence taken and the allegations made in a trial, has issued a conviction and establishes a serious sentence", he details.

In the opinion of the magistrates "in this second situation, even when the sentence is not final, there is already a pronouncement by a collegiate court after holding a plenary session with all the guarantees, which increases the risk of flight." For all these reasons, the Chamber understands that the original decision to order his imprisonment "is adequate".

It was last September when the judges of the Second Section themselves sentenced Cameno to 12 years and one day in prison for a crime against public health and another four years for a crime of money laundering, although they acquitted him of possession illicit weapons. His sentence is lower than that requested by the Prosecutor's Office, which requested 25 years in prison.

Throughout 97 pages, the court focuses on how Cameno, who had already been prosecuted in different drug trafficking operations, dedicated herself despite being on probation to the "distribution and sale to third parties of significant amounts of cocaine" .

In the development of this activity "he maintained regular contacts with suppliers and with those in charge of transporting the substance" and, "together with the one who was his sentimental partner at that time, he dealt with the payments corresponding to the sales of this substance, as well as as well as the contacts with the network in charge of providing technical, legal and financial support".

For all this, the ruling details, Cameno "adopted extreme security measures, avoiding telephone communications as much as possible, using third parties and holding personal meetings, inside the different vehicles of which she was a user and in other places " .