They left the court covering their faces with their hands, with a file, one of them even using a walker, but they will not go to prison. The self-confessed pedophiles who abused a dozen minors in the Murcia region will not go to prison in exchange for admitting the facts. The agreement reached between the defense and the prosecution reduced the sentences of all the defendants, but the fate of the pimps and collaborators in this sexual exploitation plot remains pending. Their imprisonment will depend on the hearings that will take place on October 7 and 8 at the Provincial Court of Murcia.
The region’s top prosecutor, José Luis Díaz Manzanera, will call a meeting of prosecutors to discuss whether to request prison for the leaders of the plot: “Our position does not bind the court, although we normally agree. But the decision is up to the court,” the prosecutor acknowledges.
Pimps face total sentences of 16 years in some cases, but because each individual crime carries a two-year prison sentence, the court has discretion in deciding whether they go to prison.
Regarding the delays that have dragged on for a decade and allowed the majority of those involved to avoid prison, Díaz Manzanera highlights the lack of personnel: “Here I am short 20 prosecutors, and I would need even more. And we are only talking about the Prosecutor’s Office, but we need an increase in personnel at all levels and the setting of objectives,” he denounces.
The delays, the Attorney General of the Region points out, are widespread in most of the Murcia judicial system, which means that measures to mitigate excessive delays are regularly applied: “Excessive delays were essential in this case. But in this case and in many others, it is our daily bread,” laments Díaz Manzanera.
It should be recalled that unjustified delays are a type of mitigating circumstance that allows for a reduction in the sentence when the processing of criminal proceedings has lasted an excessive and unnecessary time, provided that this delay is not attributable to the prisoner and that the excessive duration of the proceedings is not justified by their complexity.
No regulation on the application of unjustified delay
The prosecutor emphasizes that there is no fixed time limit to establish the mitigating circumstance of an unjustified delay: “It is not established by law, when is an unjustified delay considered normal or highly qualified? To decide, it is necessary to rely on case law, on the basis of other decisions of the Supreme Court or other provincial hearings. But this mitigating circumstance has been admitted in the most varied cases.
The State Attorney General’s Office announced in 2022 that it would prepare a circular to end compliance agreements based on mitigating undue delays in crimes against sexual freedom. The document has not yet been published, although it should be ready by the end of this year: “I imagine it is complicated, a circular aimed at all prosecutors in Spain is not easy,” observes Díaz Manzanera. The prosecutor emphasizes that the protections should go further and that “we should consider prioritizing cases involving minors involved in the accusations.”
