Laurence Dollimore
THE father of a young man accused of carrying out a terrorist assassination plot in Spain says he is struggling with certain aspects of life behind bars.
Naraya Gomez, 26, was arrested alongside his British girlfriend, Sasha Brooks, in Lanjaron, Granada last November.
He stands accused of helping carry out the near-fatal shooting of 78-year-old Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the founder of the far-right Vox party – who was shot in the face outside his home in Madrid in October.
He and Sasha were dragged before a judge in Madrid at the end of November, but while Sasha was released on bail, Naraya was sent to prison to await trial.
His father Sirio Gomez told the Olive Press today that Naraya ‘is innocent of what he is accused’ and that ‘a series of coincidences’ led to his arrest.
It comes as he launches a GoFundMe page to help pay for ‘better’ legal representation.
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He said: “I believe there is no conclusive evidence, only suspicions due to the coincidences.”
Gomez said there is still no date set for a trial and that the investigation was being conducted in secrecy.
He said his son ‘is more or less fine’ in the Soto del Real prison in Madrid but that he is struggling to eat as they do not cater to his diet.
He added: “We sent him some money to survive there, he has been a vegetarian since he was born, and he doesn’t have good food, but he is doing workshops and goes to the gym, studying at the library, so as not to be in the yard with the other prisoners…the worst people are in the yard… he is a good boy.”
Gomez said his son is forced to remove bits of meat from his food before eating it.
The Soto del Real prison has often been dubbed the ‘prison for VIPs’, with many rich and powerful men having been sent there in recent years, including former Partido Popular leader Luis Barcenas.
Prisoners also have certain privileges, including more phone calls and a prison credit card that can be added to by family members from the outside – with a limit of €100 per month, according to reports.
Naraya is accused of helping hire the contract killer, a wanted Frenchman of Tunisian origin, before travelling to a hotel in Madrid with him on the eve of the attack.
According to police, Gomez followed the Frenchman in his car on the day of the shooting.
After the deed was done, the killer, who is also wanted for a murder in Paris, dumped his motorbike and set it on fire, before being picked up by Gomez in his car to make his getaway.
According to police, Naraya’s blue hire car was seen on CCTV in Madrid’s Barrio Salamanca in the weeks running up to the attack, tracking Vidal-Quadras’s movements.
The same car was later found illegally parked in Lanjaron, leading to his arrest.
