The President of Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA), Lorenzo del Rio, has pointed out in relation to the sentence that condemns two local police officers from Estepona for abusing an 18-year-old girl that “the criminal process is based on the accusatory principle”, which means, he has pointed out, that “The judge cannot sentence for more than what the parties ask for.”
This is how Del Río has referred, after a meeting with the new Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function, José Antonio Nieto, when questioned about the sentence that was issued once an agreement was reached between the defenses, the Prosecutor’s Office and the victim’s lawyer, after which the suspension of the sentence of these two local agents.
Del Río recalled that in this case “the private prosecution, which represents the victim, and the defense have reached a agreementwhat is called the principle of procedural opportunity derived from the accusatory principle and the judges have to accept that”. “The judge cannot convict if there is no one who asks, just as he cannot be put in prison if the prosecutor or another party does not ask for it,” he said.
“Whether that is assumable or not or has an assessment corresponds to each one and to the society in general”, stated the President of the Andalusian High Court.
The Court of Malaga sentenced last April, after an agreement between all parties, to two years in prison for these two local police officers for a crime against sexual freedom, granting them in May the suspended sentencewhich means that they will not have to enter prison, which was conditional on not committing a crime again in three years and undergoing a sexual education program.