Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S High Court has ruled that a British man can be granted €55,000 in compensation after he was kept locked up for 643 days in a Spanish jail, only to be absolved of the attempted murder charges that he was facing.
The case dates back to July 24, 2016, when two people in a bar in Arona, on the Canary Island of Tenerife, were attacked by two men with a knife during a mass brawl.
The two suspects in the case – one of whom was the man who has just been granted the compensation – were in the bar at the time, but were never positively identified as the assailants and have always ‘strenuously’ denied any wrongdoing, according to a report in El Dia.
One of the men who was assaulted claimed to recognise the two suspects, but later explained that this was because he had worked with one of them in construction, and the other he knew by sight.
DNA testing failed to identify the assailants either, given that the fight had been a mass brawl that had involved many people.
The British man was arrested on August 14, 2016 and was kept in preventive custody until May 22, 2018, when he was released with conditions. Just three days later, however, he was absolved of any charges by the Provincial Court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
As a result of his ordeal he tried to claim €186,000 in compensation from the Spanish authorities, but the solicitor general refused.
As such he took his case to the High Court, which has at least partly found in his favour.
The High Court ruled that the man’s family circumstances had not been established, and nor were the documents that he provided to show his work situation accepted by the tribunal either, which is why it opted for the aforementioned sum of €55,000 in compensation.
If he chooses to, he can now take his case to the Supreme Court in a bid to increase the sum further.
