The Madrid Provincial Court annulled the sentence pronounced by the Court of First Instance No. 35 of Madrid which condemned Gustave González there Diego Arrabal to compensate Marilo Montero and a friend of hers with 340,000 euros for unlawful interference with his right to privacy and honor.
The keys to the trial and the record sentence in favor of Mariló Montero and against Diego Arrabal and Gustavo González
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Judge César Tejedor imposed this sentence on the paparazzi by civil means, the heaviest sentence of this type in the history of Spanish justice, for photographing them without their consent in 2015, when the two women were on vacation outside of Spain. The company that the photographers shared, Diegus SL, appealed to the Provincial Court, which estimated the appeal in terms of the criminal damage of the case, without analyzing the merits of the case, according to the specialized portal ConfiLegal.
Pending the resolution of the other criminal proceedings
In the sentence of July 12, it is ruled that the resolution of the civil procedure “should have been suspended” while it is elucidated by the court of instruction n ° 30 of Barcelona the personal criminal liability of journalistswho are facing a request for imprisonment and disqualification for a period of six years, in addition to the payment of compensation.
The crux of the problem is in this element. According to the law firm representing Montero, fair equity, initially, the two investigative courts considered that the legal conditions for the existence of criminal damage were not met, so the case was tried in Madrid. So they considered them to be different proceedings: in one, Montero and her friend accuse photographers of capturing images of you; in the other, that of Barcelona, Montero’s accusation relates to an alleged crime of revealing secrets due to events that occurred in Bora Bora, one of the destinations through which they passed. “The trial judge found that we were right and therefore condemned“, they explain.
However, the Provincial Court considers that this prejudice existed, since it concerns the same facts, and that the violation of the right to honor cannot be discussed in two proceedings at the same time. For this reason, ratifying the actions carried out before the civil courts until the conviction and without assessing the facts prosecuted, it orders the suspension of the civil proceedings until the end of the criminal proceedings. Then the sentence will again be dictated by the civil body.
The first reaction of Diego Arrabal
Judicial attention is now on Barcelona: Investigative Court No. 30 has ratified the opening of an oral trial for an alleged crime of revealing secrets by Arrabal and González, from whom it is asking for a bail of 265,000 euros to cover possible civil liability arising from the crime.
“For me it’s a victory because justice has been done, even if it still has a lot of time“Arrabal told the weekly, where he adds: “I am very calm in criminal matters.” It refers, of course, to the other Barcelona process. “There is a criminal procedure in which the Prosecutor is very clear. He asked that he acquit us because he believes there is no crime,” he adds.
In his time, the former collaborator of Viva la vida already warned that he would oppose the court decision, drawing attention to the consequences of the conviction. “If you can’t take pictures of a public person in a public place, turn it off and let’s go,” said the photographer, who even said he would take the case to Europe.if necessary”.