The life sentence against Daniel Sancho The meeting has come as a cold shower for his family and his Spanish lawyers, who have called an emergency meeting for this Friday. It will take place in the Koh Samui prison, where the convicted man was provisionally detained on 7 August, and his parents will also attend. Rodolfo Sancho and Silvia Bronchalowho do not speak to each other.
The scenario for them is devastating and there is no time to lose: the lawyer Marcos Garcia Monteswho leads the defense along with the Chipirrás-Balfagón dispatchhas one month to lodge an appeal. Although they are optimistic, legal experts do not agree: “In Thailand it is exceptional, if not unusual, for appeal courts to overturn first instance rulings in this type of case,” they say.
For his part, the Spanish lawyer for the Arrieta family, Juango Ospinahe explained: “In Thailand, appeals are not looked upon favourably. The first appeal is before a provincial court, and before the same five judges who sentenced Daniel Sancho to life imprisonment, which makes it almost impossible for it to succeed. And in the case of the Supreme Court, not only is it unlikely to succeed but it could happen that the higher court revokes the sentence for worse.” Regarding the compensation that Sancho must pay to the Arrieta family, of 106,000 euros, he explained: “Daniel, as far as we know today, is insolvent. We hope that tomorrow he will not be and we can seize his property.”
The appeal against the sentence will be the first order of business at the urgently convened meeting on Friday, but it will not be the only one. Daniel’s defence has asked the judge to cancel the transfer of the prisoner to a higher security prison and for the Spaniard to remain in Samui while the process continues and the sentence is finally final. Daniel was admitted to this prison on 7 August. He occupies a space in the hospital area, shares a cell with two other trusted prisoners and sleeps on the floor with a mat; he plays sports, reads and is well fed. Very different conditions to those that await him in Farmer’s Letter to Bang Kwangboth listed as two of the most dangerous and harsh prisons in the world.
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