The Madrid Court has ordered that the dancer Rafael Amargo remains in prison until the trial in which he is accused of selling drugs, and it is disgraceful that he failed to comply with the obligation to sign in court, doing so “a minimum percentage” of times and “when he believes it appropriate”, and also without medically justifying it.
Section 30 of the Madrid hearing has deniedin an order dated November 29 to which he had access Efe, the appeal that the artist presented against the order of November 3 by which the magistrates agreed to the precautionary measure of provisional detention without bail until the trial, scheduled for April 2024.
In that car the same Section argued risk of flight and repeated breach of the obligation to sign every 15 days in the judicial body, as the Prosecutor's Office defended, and sent Rafael Amargo to the Soto del Real prison. He also took the same average for another of the three defendants facing trial, the producer Eduardo de Santos.
The dancer appealed, insisting that has been at the disposal of the Provincial Court and has complied with the obligations imposed on him, and the Prosecutor's Office was against his request.
Now the magistrates explain that “an unavoidable reality exists”, which is that the investigating court issued the precautionary measure of conditional release but with the obligation to appear in court every two weeks, “precisely to avoid provisional detention as a more burdensome measure”and thus the investigated person must have completed 70 appearances in 35 months.
But until November he had complied with “a minimum percentage of them” and “he excuses his non-compliance on the basis of 'his availability' or that he has even attended voluntarily on some occasion, ignoring his obligation to appear.” not when it is deemed appropriate, but when the judicial body establishes it who is responsible for the case in which he is accused.
The judges add that “precisely this argument of voluntary appearances” is incongruent with the concurrence of medical or psychological causes that Amargo alleges in his appeal, emphasizing that has not properly justified the absences despite being “sufficiently advised.”
The magistrates also highlight that “nor does (Amargo) sufficiently explain why, despite being required to provide the medical documentation required by the coroner, he did not complete it.” And they emphasize the risk of the defendant fleeing, detailing that “the fact that it is a publicly known person, with media impact, “cannot constitute an element that avoids the concurrent risk”nor have family members or personal roots in Spain.
“If precisely the least burdensome measures that are agreed upon are systematically breached, the risk of escape increasesand therefore means that no other measure can be adopted” other than jail, they conclude, highlighting that the trial date is close “and in these circumstances and with the breaches outlined, the presence of the accused in the plenary session cannot be guaranteed.”
The trial of Rafael Amargo is scheduled to take place on April 8, 10, 11 and 12, 2024after the suspension that took place on June 7 because another of the defendants, the theater producer Eduardo de Santos, renounced his lawyer.
They will be judged the dancer, Eduardo de Santos and an associate of the artist, Manuel Ángel Batista Leónaccused of being part of a group that trafficked drugs, mainly methamphetamine, which they allegedly sold from Amargo's apartment.
Looking ahead to the trial, the Prosecutor's Office requests nine years in prison for the artist and for the producer, and six years for the other defendant.