Civil Guard agent Manuel Arbesú González, who was sentenced three years ago for recording a sexual abuse while laughing, will return to "active service" at the end of this month. This is stated in the Official Bulletin of this body, in a resolution that indicates that the agent has already served the two-year suspension of employment, which was imposed when he was stationed in Lanzarote.
From next October 31, according to the resolution, Arbesú will be "pending assignment of destination", which must be processed at the Main Post of Tías, where he was working when he was suspended. It should be remembered that it was the General Directorate of the Civil Guard who imposed this sanction on the agent, after the Council of Ministers annulled the sentence that had been dictated by the Courts, granting him a pardon.
"The Government's measure is unjustifiable and greatly damages the image of the Corps, since an agent who not only has not prevented the commission of a crime, but has mocked it, will have to ensure the safety of citizens," denounced then from the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC), which is the oldest and the majority within the body.
"He was laughing permanently without intervening"
The agent was convicted of omission of the duty to prosecute crimes, since he witnessed a sexual abuse and what he did was laugh and record it on video. The events occurred in 2011 in Asturias, during a vacation. According to the sentence, it was proven that a friend of Arbesú addressed a 70-year-old passenger with "obscene" expressions and even "put his hand between her legs, touching the area of the pubis over the pants." When another passenger tried to defend the woman, he was hit. Meanwhile, according to the ruling, Manuel Arbesú "was laughing permanently without intervening at any time and even recording on his mobile phone the words that his friend addressed to his victim."
After the Council of Ministers granted him a pardon in 2014, the Civil Guard itself sanctioned the agent, upon completion of the file that was opened for these events. Thus, he decided to suspend him from employment for two years. In addition, the resolution established that if after this time he wished to rejoin the Main Post of Tías, where he was stationed, he could not do so until after another 2 additional years. Therefore, in principle Arbesú would not return now to that barracks in Puerto del Carmen.
Although the time that this agent has spent away from the service is even greater than that established by the sentence, the truth is that the pardon is what will allow him to return to the corps. And it is that, as explained then to La Voz from the Civil Guard, a conviction implies the immediate expulsion of any agent. Thus, upon receiving the pardon, that expulsion was not carried out and he was only suspended for two years, which are the ones he has already served.
