Two of the six National Police agents who sat on the dock accused of torturing two detainees at the Arrecife Police Station have been sentenced to four and a half years in prison, while the other four have been acquitted. The sentence, issued by the First Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, also condemns the two brothers who were attacked by the agents.
According to the ruling, Airam Pérez González and Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Corella committed a crime of torture, in its modality of serious attack on moral integrity, and another of injuries. For the first, they are sentenced to two and a half years in prison and 9 years of absolute disqualification, while for the second they are sentenced to another two years in prison. In addition, they must pay compensation of 25,000 euros to one of the assaulted brothers, for the injuries and moral damage, as well as one eighth of the court costs.
For their part, the brothers Yari Damián Lemes Méndez and Nelson Jesús Lemes Méndez have also been convicted of assault and a lack of injuries. The sentence sets a sentence of six months in prison for them, as well as compensation of 225 euros to three agents.
A "punishment" for confronting the agents
The events occurred on April 20, 2010 and, according to the sentence, began with an aggression by the two brothers against two other people, whom they went to look for in a park located on Alcalde Ginés de la Hoz street in Arrecife. While they continued to beat one of them - the other had already managed to escape - two agents of the National Police arrived at the park, who tried to prevent the aggression from continuing. "With contempt for the principle of authority", Yari Lemes confronted one of the agents "and began to kick, push and punch him in the face, in addition to hitting him with a belt", the sentence states. For his part, Nelson Lemes "pushed and hit the other agent who tried to prevent the fight in the left elbow".
It was then that four of the accused police officers arrived at the scene, who "helped their colleagues to reduce" the Lemes brothers. Once arrested, when Nelson Lemes was being introduced into the police vehicle, he "kicked one of the agents who have been convicted, Airam Pérez González, in the mouth". Afterwards, this same police officer and the other convicted agent, the sub-inspector Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Corella, were in charge of driving Nelson to the cells together with other police officers. At that time, the detainee was "with his torso naked, barefoot and handcuffed with his hands behind his back".
"After having traveled three corridors and after the accused Nelsón Jesús Lemes passed through a door to a small room, the accused Airam Pérez, with the intention of punishing the detainee for his previous action in the park, failing to his obligation to ensure the physical integrity of said detainee and with the intention of undermining it, grabbed him by the neck, made him back until he crossed the door again and gave him a strong blow with his knee, causing Nelson Jesús to fall to the ground and remain seated", the sentence considers proven, which recalls that there is a video surveillance camera installed in that corridor, which recorded part of what happened.
They closed the door "to prevent" the camera from recording it
Next, the sub-inspector Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, "to prevent" the camera in the corridor "from recording the aggression, closed the door" of the room where they were and "kicked Nelson Jesús in the mouth, while the other agent hit him "several times in the back and in the left leg". As a result of the aggression, the detainee suffered different injuries, which took 211 days to heal, "all of them prevented from performing their usual profession". In addition, he suffers as a result "a slight aesthetic damage, derived from the loss of a piece of the incisal edge" of a tooth.
As for the rest of the police officers who were accused, the sentence considers that it has not been proven that they attacked the detainee when he was at the Police Station. Regarding one of them, it specifies that "it has been proven that he was not in the same corridor as Nelson Lemes at the time when he began to be attacked". Regarding another, it indicates that "it has not been proven" that he was present. As for the other two, he considers that they were not "in a position to prevent him from being attacked".
Finally, regarding the injuries suffered by the other detained brother, the Court concludes that "the time and place in which said injuries occurred has not been proven, nor that they were caused by the accused".
