The deputy of the Popular Parliamentary Group for Lanzarote, Astrid Pérez, will ask the Minister of Justice of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, “about the actions carried out by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in the case of Romina Celeste”, the woman who was allegedly murdered and dismembered by her partner in January 2019. The accused, Raúl Diaz Cachón, was released last January after spending four years in pre-trial detention, the maximum time allowed by law, without yet having a date for the trial.
The regional deputy considers that the seriousness of the case requires “that all the data and the truth about what happened be known with one of the expert reports prepared by the Institute of Legal Medicine”, an organ dependent on the Ministry of Justice of the Government of the Canary Islands, and for which they were waiting for almost two years, as denounced by the lawyer of the victim's family.
For Astrid Pérez, it is essential that the head of Justice “explain how it is possible to have to wait two years for a report” in a case like Romina's, who was dismembered and burned by her partner, “and also something essential, if someone is going to resign, or not, in the face of this negligence.”
The deputy points out that, regardless of which party requests it and the reasons for the request, it is “intolerable” that a report or expert test that was requested in January 2020 was sent by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in April 2022, after being given a ten-day ultimatum by the corresponding Court.
Astrid Pérez assures that “this type of action should not be allowed” because the sum of circumstances may lead to the fact that, as has happened in the case of the young Romina, the maximum period of provisional imprisonment expires without the trial having been held and the accused is released. “If the problem is resources, let them be put in place, but what we cannot allow is for this type of event to be repeated”, denounces Pérez, who reiterates once again that “it is very worrying that cases of this nature are delayed so much over time because in the end justice ceases to be fair”, she declares.