The Seprona goes to Stratvs to lift the seal

Agents of the Seprona of the Civil Guard went this Tuesday to the Stratvs winery to lift the seal that weighed on the facilities since December 2013. The property had been demanding that the agents themselves remove the seal in order to reopen the facilities, after the last order issued by the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court.

That order, known on July 3, rejected the appeals filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusation and lifted the precautionary measure of closure dictated three and a half years ago by the investigating judge of the Stratvs case. "The investigation has concluded, almost four years have passed and the oral trial is about to be held," the order stated, thus justifying its decision to allow the reopening.

In any case, it clarified that this decision does not imply "weighing, in any way, the evidence" that appears in the case and the "assessment that must be made at the time of the oral trial." Regarding these trials, it should be remembered that one has already been held three weeks ago and is awaiting a sentence, and the other, which is the main one, is still pending this same Section of the Court setting a date for the hearing.

An "incomprehensible" decision, according to the Prosecutor's Office

"It is incomprehensible that the precautionary measure is lifted and the winery is opened when its operation is illegal due to the lack of enabling titles and the frontal contradiction with the urban planning that applies to it," the Prosecutor's Office argued. With this and other arguments, it appealed the order issued last December by the Sixth Section, specifically by Judge Salvador Alba, underlining, among other things, the "surprising change of criteria" of the magistrate. And it is that this same judge had endorsed the closure of the winery in 2014, rejecting another appeal filed by Juan Francisco Rosa.

However, in December, Judge Alba agreed to lift the precautionary measure and even ordered then that the Seprona go to remove the seal, after receiving a call in the Court from the lawyer of Juan Francisco Rosa. At that time, the president of the Sixth Section, Emilio Moya, intervened to annul that resolution of Alba, alleging that it could cause "irreparable damages" and that it was necessary to wait to resolve the appeals. Finally, almost six months later, those appeals have been rejected, making the order that lifts the precautionary measure of closure final.

Now, awaiting the decision that the Yaiza City Council makes -which could still intervene to prevent the opening, completing the files it had open against the facilities- the future of Stratvs will depend on the trial that still needs to be held. In it, the Public Prosecutor's Office is asking for 15 years in prison for Juan Francisco Rosa for crimes against the environment, against historical heritage, against land management and usurpation of land and documentary falsification, among others, as well as the demolition of the Stratvs complex. In any case, what cannot open its doors is the restaurant, since the City Council did complete that file, ordering the closure in 2013, upon verifying that it lacked any type of permit.