Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Canary Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment has begun the demolition of a single-family home illegally built in the Protected Landscape of La Geria 20 years ago, after the Supreme Court refused to save the construction despite the Tinajo City Council granting it a license in 2015.
The demolition work began on Tuesday morning, in the presence of the mayor of Tinajo himself, Jesús Machín, who early in the morning announced his intention to stop the demolition, convinced that he was going to achieve it.
The Canary Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment has assumed the demolition of the house at the request of the Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife, after the voluntary period for compliance with the sentence was completed without the owner proceeding with the demolition. To do this, yes, it has had to hire a company, for 52,858 euros, money that will later be charged to the owner of the property.
An extension of 120 square meters
It was the WWF/Adena organization that reported the events in its day, after which the Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife issued a sentence in 2011 condemning the owner of the house, Ricarco Pacheco, and two other people who intervened in the construction of the works, Miguel Ángel Armas García and Honorio Armas Martín, for a crime against land management. The Court imposed a sentence of one year and six months in prison, a fine of 2,160 euros and a penalty of special disqualification from exercising a profession or trade related to construction for a period of one year and six months.
According to what was considered, the works were carried out between March and April 1999, when "with absolute disregard for urban planning regulations and with the excuse of rehabilitating a small and old construction", an extension of about 120 square meters was carried out in a small old construction located in La Vegueta.
"The license provided now does not change the correctness of the ruling"
The defendants appealed the first ruling to the Provincial Court, which in 2013 ratified the convictions, also ordering the demolition of the property. However, in March 2015, the Tinajo City Council granted a building permit for the extension of the house, based on the new Special Plan of La Geria.
After that, the owner of the house went to the Supreme Court asking for authorization to file an extraordinary appeal for review of the sentence, understanding that the works had already been legalized with the license granted by the Corporation. However, the high court rejected his claim.
"The certification from the City Council (of Tinajo) of a building permit for the extension of a family home does not change the correctness of the ruling whose review is sought", nor "can it be admitted that with such authorization it is intended to replace the court in its function of judging, disregarding the sanctity of formal and material res judicata", the Supreme Court stated in an order issued in June 2015, not agreeing to review the sentence or suspend the execution of the ruling that ordered the demolition.
