The 19-year-old Maghrebi immigrant detained for the assault on an elderly man in Torre Pacheco has been released on provisional liberty after spending three weeks in pretrial detention.
This decision was made last Friday by the San Sebastián Investigative Court No. 5, the same court that ordered his imprisonment a day after his arrest, on July 14 in the Basque Country.
Despite his release, the young man must comply with strict precautionary measures. Among them are the obligation to appear weekly before the courts in San Sebastián, the city where he has established residence, the prohibition on leaving the national territory, and on maintaining any type of contact with the victim. Additionally, last Monday he handed over his passport to prevent a possible escape from the country.
Vecinos de Torre Pacheco concentrados en la plaza del Ayuntamiento en repulsa de la inmigración.
His arrest took place at the Lezo-Rentería railway station at around 5:30 p.m., when he was apparently preparing to head toward Irún, with the possible intention of crossing the border into France. The Civil Guard, which had already identified him, had issued a search warrant after the serious disturbances recorded in TorrePacheco as a result of the assault, and finally he was located and detained by officers of theErtzaintza.
During his confinement in Martutene prison, the young man was tried by videoconference on July 29 for one of the crimes he is charged with: a violent robbery that occurred on July 7, two days before the assault that triggered the unrest. According to the prosecution, he attempted to snatch the watch from a man over 80 years old, causing minor injuries when the man resisted.
Subsequently, he allegedly stole a bicycle from a garage. Although he denied the facts during the trial, the Cartagena Criminal Court No. 1 found him guilty, sentencing him to one year in prison, a fine of 180 euros, and compensation of 320 euros to the victim. The sentence is not yet final and may be appealed.
Meanwhile, the other two young men involved in the Torre Pacheco unrest, who did not directly participate in the assault but encouraged it, were detained in Murcia and released shortly thereafter. The duty judge in San Javier also imposed precautionary measures on them, although she did not order their imprisonment.
