Costa Blanca
Prosecutor wants hefty sentence for police inspector charged in Torrevieja torture case
By m.p. - Nov 1, 2009 - 3:01 PM
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Luis Carlos C.R., the Guatemalan man who made the allegations of torture – EFE archive
Nine suspects, including a local councillor, were charged after the allegations made by a man arrested for robbery
The Alicante provincial court recently turned down appeals placed by each of the nine defendants against their charges in the Torrevieja torture case, which means that a trial will now almost certainly take place. The case relates to allegations by a man arrested for robbery that he and his girlfriend were beaten by local police officers after they were taken into custody in June 2006.
They were arrested while trying to break into the home of a member of the local police force.
A number of officers are charged in the case, as is the councillor who had responsibility for the local police force at the time, Pedro Valero, who is charged with others of attempting to cover up what allegedly happened. La Verdad reports that he could face between one and four years in prison. The police inspector, Carlos María I.F., whose home was the target of the attempted burglary, faces up to eight years behind bars.
The human rights organisation ‘Pro Derechos Humanos de España’ is placing a public interest suit in the case and is understood by the newspaper to be claiming civil responsibility from Torrevieja Town Hall should any compensation be granted in the sentence.