The future of Manuel Arbesú González, a Civil Guard officer stationed in Lanzarote, is still up in the air. Last month, the pardon granted to him by the Government unleashed a controversy throughout Spain, but as the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) has confirmed to La Voz, this officer still has an internal file open for a very serious offense, precisely because of that conviction.
Manuel Arbesú was convicted in 2013 for dereliction of duty to prosecute crimes, after recording a sexual abuse on a train in Asturias, while laughing at what was happening. According to the ruling, it was a friend of Arbesú who addressed a 70-year-old passenger with "obscene" expressions and even "put his hand between her legs, touching her pubic area over her pants." When another passenger tried to defend the woman, he was beaten. Meanwhile, according to the ruling, Manuel Arbesú "was laughing constantly without intervening at any time and even recording on his mobile phone the words that his friend addressed to his victim."
A month ago, the Government granted a pardon to this officer and commuted the six-month disqualification sentence to a fine of 500 euros. The disqualification, even if it had been for a single day, would have meant his definitive expulsion from the force. Now, the internal file that he has open could also lead to the same sanction, although sources from an association of the Civil Guard have ruled out this possibility in statements to the newspaper El Mundo. Meanwhile, the majority association within this force continues to consider it "unacceptable" that Arbesú continues within the Civil Guard.
Divided opinions in the civil guard associations
"The Government's measure is unjustifiable and greatly damages the image of the Corps, since an officer who not only has not prevented the commission of a crime, but has mocked it, will have to ensure the safety of citizens," they denounced after learning of the pardon from the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC), which is the oldest and the majority within the corps (it has 8 of the 15 members represented in the Plenary of the Council of the Civil Guard, while the rest of the associations have between one and two representatives).
However, another of these associations, the Union of Civil Guards (UGC), has now come to the defense of Manuel Arbesú and has expressed confidence that the internal file against him will only result in a suspension of employment and salary of between three and six months. "The officer was on vacation and 2,000 kilometers from his destination. You can't expect us to report everything," the association's lawyer, Juan José Del Sol, told the newspaper El Mundo.
According to the same newspaper, the General Directorate of the Civil Guard has already transmitted to this association that the officer will not be expelled from the corps, thus ruling out one of the possibilities that opens up that pending file. However, the general secretary of the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) in Las Palmas, Juan Couce, has pointed out to La Voz that they are not aware that there is already a decision on that file.
"In the Plenary of the Council of the Civil Guard held on June 30, we asked about the issue and the general director informed us that he had opened a file for a very serious offense," Couce explained, clarifying that his association "does not know what sanction the director is going to impose."
"The pardon is there, but the conviction exists"
The "serious offense" is having been convicted with a final judgment, ("the pardon is there, but the conviction exists", Couce emphasizes) and the sanctions can range from expulsion from the corps, to loss of positions in the hierarchy or suspension of employment and salary of between three months and six years.
Regarding the statements made by the UGC to El Mundo, stating that the officer will not be expelled from the corps, Juan Couce has insisted that this was not said at the meeting. "I don't know if the general director will have told this association later," he clarified. What he did not want to do is to assess the statements made from the UGC in defense of the officer. "I'm not going to go to war with them. What I say is that our position is the same as we expressed a month ago." And that position is to consider the pardon "shameful, unworthy and immoral", and the fact that this officer can continue within the Civil Guard.
However, from the minority UGC they do not see it that way and even, in statements to El Mundo, they have come to affirm that the officer has been subjected to a "public mockery, only for the fact of being the son of a PP councilor and having wanted, some, to politicize this matter." And it is that it is the circumstance that Arbesú is the son of a public carpo of the Popular Party, specifically in the Asturian municipality of Lena, where a collection of signatures was undertaken in his support.
Currently, Manuel Arbesú continues to serve in Lanzarote, where he arrived about three years ago. Previously he had also been stationed in the Canary Islands, specifically in Tenerife, where he was part of the GRS, before being transferred to this island
