On April 22, 2015, the first of two hearings in the trial against four defendants for the crime of a breeder in El Carpio de Tajo on March 5, 2013 was held at the Provincial Court of Toledo. One of the accused was Esteban Ruiz. Suárez, who could not answer with certainty if he had ever been to this city of Toledo. He also stammered that he was in jail and his head was a mess. And he was even less convincing when asked about his fingerprint taken from the plastic bag with which they had hidden the murder weapon.
One of the three magistrates of the court even blurted out to him: “It’s not because you’re being stupid that I’m going to believe it.” Esteban, of Merchera origin, was sentenced to 25 and a half years in prison, like the three other accused, although one of them was acquitted by the Supreme Court because “there was no solid evidence against him “.
With a recognized degree of disability of 73 percent, Esteban’s situation went “unnoticed” throughout the procedure. Neither the Civil Guard during his arrest nor the investigating court “detected that he was a person with an intellectual disability”. Neither “when it was proven in court, no action was taken” nor in the Toledo court during the two days of the trial.
This is what the organization Plena Inclusion España says, which brought the matter to the UN. Its Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ruled that Esteban, still in prison, was not guaranteed his right to defense and a fair trial: “Both the judges and the prosecution should have acted ex officio and with due diligence.” diligence as soon as they became aware of the author’s disability.
Reminds the Spanish State that it must provide the disabled person compensation for damage caused and legal costs to bring this complaint to the United Nations. And he adds that the State has the obligation to offer you a trial with all the guaranteesproviding the convicted person with the necessary support in accordance with the UN decision and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approved by Spain in 2007.
The judge María de la Fe Amarillo was responsible for Court Number 3 of Torrijos which investigated the case. “None of the detainees declared themselves. They all asserted their right not to testify and their lawyer did not inform us of this. Neither in the statement, nor during the appearance in prison, nor in the investigation [la primera declaración que el juez de instrucción está obligado a tomar al procesado después de dictar el auto de procesamiento]. Nor when, after the investigation, I asked everyone if they wanted to say something,” he recalls. “Likewise, rereading the facts of the prosecution, neither his lawyers nor any of the accused said they didn’t understand something. He only talked to me about a bag…” he adds.
Slight mental retardation
The president of that court, Manuel Gutiérrez, is already retired and another judge, Urbano Suárez, told ABC on Wednesday that he did not remember the trial, which was covered by the media. “Esteban’s treatment was degrading, embarrassing; “It was an outrage on the part of the Court.”» said one of the lawyers present at the hearing. “It’s a paradigmatic case. The video of the hearing had a lot of impact in various fields and the UN resolution was the final touch,” says the lawyer, who asks to remain anonymous.
Nine days before the trial, the Toledo Institute of Forensic Medicine released a forensic report on 35-year-old Esteban. “It is based exclusively on an interview carried out on April 9, 2015”as Full Inclusion explains in its complaint to the UN. The aim was “specifically to assess whether or not exemption or mitigation of criminal liability existed in Esteban’s case.”
A forensic psychologist determined that Esteban suffered from mild mental retardation and an unfavorable opinion was issued to assess the attenuating circumstance. Later in the sentence, it is stated that Esteban “suffers from a slight mental disability” which does not prevent him from “knowing the illegality of his actions or acting in accordance with this knowledge.”
The inclusive figure of the facilitator
Plena Inclusion has been advocating for years that the facilitator be extended and adequately funded, an inclusive figure that makes the justice system fairer. “The judges have no medical or psychological knowledge, even less in matters of disability. They consider that, with the simple presence of a medical operator from a forensic medicine institute, there is sufficient capacity to detect a disability and know its implications,” he explains. Najoua ElHadad, legal facilitator. “But these forensic doctors have no training in this area and are still responsible for preparing these reports, without knowing what impact a disability has on communication, on behavior in scenarios as intriguing and aggressive as a person can be. court,” he adds. .
In addition to being responsible for the court that tried Esteban, Manuel Gutiérrez was president of the Toledo court. Since 2019, this position has been occupied by Juan Ramon Brigidanoparent and caregiver of a severely disabled child. “The situation has changed a lot. A year after his arrival, in 2020, a sentence was adapted in an easy-to-read format for a victim of a crime against sexual freedom,” he recalls.
The Plena Inclusion organization from Castilla-La Mancha was responsible for this adaptation. “This was done voluntarily and it cost me a lot of work. Now, if another scenario happens again, I will call Plena Inclusion again to see what they tell me.”Brigidano steps forward, “still very focused” on this issue. “I go to all the associations related to disability that call me to explain the changes in the law and everything that is necessary,” says the president of the Court of Toledo, who knocks on the door of the General Council of the Judiciary when he considers it necessary, nine years after Esteban’s trial which aroused the anger of the UN.
