Joshua Parfitt
KING Felipe VI of Spain’s jailed brother-in-law will be allowed out of prison for two days a week to avoid ‘dehumanisation’ and ‘desocialisation’, a court has ruled.
Iñaki Urdangarin, 51, will volunteer at a religious institution in Madrid for no more than eight hours a day, the Penitentiary Vigilance Court in Castilla y Leon ruled.
Judge Florencio de Marcos Madruga said the disgraced former Duke of Palma will work with disabled people, in order to ‘reduce or eliminate dehumanisation and desocialisation’.
Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball medalist, reportedly has no interaction with other inmates at the Brieva jail, in the province of Ávila.
He quickly became ‘depressed’ following his incarceration on June 18 last year.
It comes as the husband of King Felipe VI’s sister, Cristina Federica, was sentenced to five years and 10 months for misappropriation of public funds.
Urdangarin took close to €6 million from regional Spanish governments through his non-profit Noos Institute for work that was never done.
His release is allowed under article 117 of Spain’s Penal Regulation, which allows ‘second grade’ criminals of ‘low social risk’ to leave prison for a maximum of eight hours a day.
“Inmates may go regularly to an outside institution to carry out a specific specialised care program, provided that it is necessary for its treatment and social reintegration,” the article reads.
The article has been applied 263 times in the first sixth months of 2019, according to El Pais.
Urdangarin’s volunteer work will begin on September 17.
