The Second Section of the Provincial Court has ratified a seven-month prison sentence that the Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife imposed on a man after being caught by the Local Police with a "fake" driver's license. The court has dismissed an appeal by the accused, who must also face a fine of 1,260 euros.
The accused based his appeal on the fact that "he was legally authorized to drive because he had obtained his license in Venezuela" and that therefore he had "no reason" to "have a supposedly false document in his possession" because "it was unnecessary for him".
However, although "the prosecution itself has taken for granted that the accused had said permit based on the consultation that was made to the Consulate of Venezuela", the Provincial Court affirms that "what cannot be disputed" is that "the permit he showed to the local police is false" and that "since his personal data and photograph appeared on it, the only conclusion that can be obtained is that the accused participated in the falsification of his driver's license".
"The explanations given by the accused at the trial are not sustainable, because no matter how bad the situation in Venezuela is, the lack of material means, such as paper, does not apply to this case, given that the support of the document is a plastic card of the same type as those used in Spain", adds the court, in a ruling issued last September.
Likewise, the Second Section of the Provincial Court points out that "it is also not sustainable that the original document of the accused was given to a third party and a false one was given to him, since this would mean that the two documents are false, the one of the accused because it has been proven that it is and the one of the third party because it would not correspond to his data, but to that of the accused".
Reasons that the Court believes may lead to falsification
In addition, in relation to the fact that the accused did not need to falsify the driver's license because he already had it, the court points out that "there may be reasons that lead a person to falsify the document that proves that they have a driver's license, such as, for example, the loss of the original and the difficulty in obtaining a new one given the circumstances of the country that must issue said document".
"With this we do not mean that this is what has happened, since there is no evidence in this regard, what we want to highlight is that there are reasons that can lead a person to falsify a document that proves their identity or that they are authorized to drive", highlights the Court, which concludes that "in the present case there is no doubt that the accused provided his photograph and personal data, with which he contributed with an essential act for the elaboration of a false driver's license in his name". Therefore, it dismisses his appeal confirming the conviction for a crime of forgery in an official document.
