The 28th of Greenpeace: declared not guilty to cause damage to the El Algarrobico hotel. According to the ruling, It is not proven that they entered by force or that they painted the facade of the hotellocated in Carboneras (Almería. The company that owns the hotel, Azata, requested, among other things, one year in prison for each of the accused. This sentence is added to the more than 40 resolutions that they agree with the NGO and? They declare that the construction of the hotel was illegal.
The Criminal Court number 1 of Almería yesterday notified the sentence in which it acquits the 28 people who were accused of causing damage to the façade of the El Algarrobico hotelaccording to the hotel property, in an action by the NGO that took place on May 11, 2014.
This is how the director of the NGO Spain, Eva Saldaña, received the sentence: “We celebrate that all the people have been acquitted. This new ruling confirms that The Algarrobico should have gone down in history a long time ago, Those responsible should pay for the damages and restore the ecosystem. Exercising our right to protest against attacks on territory (on the planet and people) is an essential tool to provoke changes and we will continue to do so. “They are not going to silence us.”
The accusation filed by the hotel owner requested a twenty-four-month fine, at a rate of 6 euros per day, a total of 1,080 euros for each of the accused, and a one-year prison sentence for each of them. an alleged crime of disobedience. Furthermore, he requested 186,703 euros in civil liability for damages caused to the hotel.
For its part, the Public Prosecutor’s Office understood, like the defense, that no crime had been committed given that it had not been possible to identify the people who had painted the facade of the hotel, that the accused people had been identified on the beach , but not within it and, ultimately, that responsibility could not be attributed to the accused.
Found not guilty of causing damage to the El Algarrobico hotel
The sentence states, in which the presumption of innocence prevails, that it is not proven that any of the accused entered by force, and after breaking the lock on the door, the interior of the El Algarrobico hotel or that they painted the façade black of the same. It also points out that it has not been proven “that the accused disregarded the order of the Civil Guard Agents who appeared at the scene in duly uniforms, to leave the property.”
While waiting to see if the company that owns it, Azata, files an appeal against the sentence, this closes one more chapter in the organization’s fight for the demolition of the illegal hotel of El Algarrobico. This ruling is added to the more than 40 resolutions that agree with the NGO and have declared that the construction of the hotel was illegal.
Symbol of the destruction of the coast, the El Algarrobico beach hotel (Carboneras -Almería-) It is one of the biggest urban planning scandals on the coast. The different Administrations involved and, especially the Carboneras City Council and the Junta of Andalusia, have allowed this monstrous hotel, with 21 floors and 411 rooms, to be built on one of the few undeveloped spaces on the western Mediterranean coast: the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park.