It took thirty years Justice to officially recognize the mistake with Ahmed Tommouhi in a decision Barcelona County Court that got him 15 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. The Moroccan mason was convicted in 1992 of two actual sexual assaults by a Barcelona rapist with whom he shared a room. unusual physical resemblance.
This Criminal Chamber Supreme Court sentenced to 24 years in prison for two rapes and two injuries, The semen found on one of the victims’ clothes did not belong to him. In the opinion of the Court of Cassation, “preserving the validity and power of the penalty in the name of the principle of legal certainty does not make such a sense. It is obvious that material justice is done to the detriment of it.”
Last January, Supreme Court judges allowed the defense to file an appeal, taking into account the “evidence and new facts” presented by the convict, contrary to the Prosecution’s criteria. Among the evidence presented by the defense was a report on the traces of semen on the victim’s clothing, which was not taken into account in the trial.
Experts did not comment
The report was reviewed by the Barcelona Science Police in 1992, but was “never” brought to the attention of the court because experts did not come to testify “although it was an accepted test”. The defense insisted that the report in question showed that the remaining semen “does not correspond” to Tommouhi.
The evidence list also included the statements of experts. victim statement –whose expression was it “The only evidence considered by the Provincial Court” Barcelona for the conviction – and later realized in an interview the “mistake he made in describing” Tommouhi.
In this decision, judge Juan Ramon Berdugoyour report, “didn’t get the court’s attention” despite evidence at trial. According to the Supreme Court, the Barcelona Court should have agreed to suspend the trial He asked to be summoned again by the defense.
other new facts
The defense also pointed to the existence of other new evidence exculpating his client, such as the existence of other legal proceedings convicting another person with physical characteristics similar to that of Mr. Tommouhi. genetic profile matching with that person’s other violations and with a person’s data means used to commit one of the crimes while the bricklayer is in prison.
Problems for the appellant began in 1991 when numerous violations occurred in the states of Barcelona and Tarragona. He and his compatriot Abderrazak M. were arrested. However, a 1993 Civil Guard report stated that there was no indication that the two men knew each other.
to Tommouhi They initially charged him with 17 crimes., but they eventually sentenced him to more than 100 years in prison for four rapes and one robbery. However, the only evidence against him was the so-called “admission” of the victims. Abderrazak M., who always maintained his innocence after the Supreme Court’s sentence was overturned and did not accept 18 million pesetas compensation from the State, died in 2000 of a heart attack in prison. European Press.
In 1995 Police arrested another man, Antonio GC, who physically resembled Tommouhi, for several violations very similar to those in 1991. Also, thanks to the Civil Guard, Antonio GC, DNA evidence of one of the four violations Tommouhi is charged with. However, no analyzable tissue or biological remains have been preserved from the other three violations, so Tommouhi is still charged with three sexual assaults.
He eventually spent 15 years in prison awaiting his sentence. forgiveness that never comes Recommended by the Supreme Court and requested by Catalonia’s chief prosecutor, José María Mena, in 1999. when they were in opposition.