On the ground, Pablo lay face down with his hands bound behind his back, unable to defend himself. The circumstance offered no relief: two civilian guards cornered him and beat him for ten minutes at a gas station car wash. The other three Benemérita members present did not take part in the assault, yet they did not intervene either. What they effectively did, and what justice deemed proven, was to assist the others in falsifying the report so the true events would remain hidden. This Monday, the Regional Court of Madrid handed down prison sentences ranging from one year to three years and nine months for five individuals, but none of them will serve their time in prison.
Apparently the two assailants, who were brothers, approached the other three defendants with stern looks and kept their distance. None of the five will serve jail time. According to the defenses, the two brothers will be dismissed from the Civil Guard, while the others will be disqualified for one year for each crime charged and recognized, equating to two years in total. As a mitigating factor, they paid six thousand euros in compensation in advance, an amount they settled together.
The two brothers were sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for illegal detention, crimes against moral integrity, and falsification of official documents. Meanwhile, three individuals who helped distort the report received a sentence of one year and nine months, limited to the last two offenses.
However, the Madrid Regional Prosecutor’s Office had requested prison terms between four and a half and ten years. The prosecutor described an incident after December 1, 2019, in which two intoxicated youths were reported for causing disturbances on public roads by two members of the Majadahonda Local Police. The youths allegedly attacked passing vehicles, stopped them, struck them with a glass bottle, and shouted insults at drivers and pedestrians. Convicted civilian guards arrived at the scene, but local officers warned them that the identified individuals had already been released. Nevertheless, the guards, without clear justification, proceeded to a nearby gas station where the victim was later located in the perimeter of the station’s laundry area.
Even though the victim was cornered and speaking with Civil Guard officers, PJML was beaten suddenly, without any prior provocation from him. His fists were repeatedly clenched by the accused guards, brothers MASE and LMSE, who knocked him to the ground and continued to strike him even as he lay still. He did not react to the assault before or after being overwhelmed, standing in the cold and wet rain for about ten minutes with his hands bound behind his back. Pablo’s friend faced administrative charges for disobedience to law enforcement officers.
Passivity and falsification of the report
Prosecutors asserted that the other three defendants at the scene—DMJ, ASC, and FJNB—failed to perform the duties expected of them in those circumstances. They did not oppose the violence observed by their colleagues and, although they could have intervened, they did not. They did not step in to prevent PJML from receiving more blows even when he was handcuffed, immovable, and exposed to the rain and cold.
The beaten man was then placed inside the officers’ vehicle and transported to the police station. Here, as the arrest procedures dictated, the brothers MASE and LMSE continued to hold him under custody without a valid legal basis. After a first examination, PJML was taken to a doctor for a second time due to a mouth wound, then returned to the police station and kept in custody until December 1, 2019.
The five defendants sought to defend themselves by presenting a self-authored report that exaggerated facts and portrayed events in a way that fit their narrative. This document was sent to Majadahonda Instruction Court No. 3, initiating Preliminary Case No. 720/2019 against PJML for assault, while a decision on conditional release was issued on December 2, 2019.