The trial for the riots that occurred during the first ‘Surround Congress’ It began this Monday with six pacts with the Prosecutor’s Office. Six of the 21 defendants have agreed with the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office on sentences that will be replaced by fines of up to 1,320 euros after acknowledging the events that occurred on the night of September 25, 2012 and apply a highly qualified mitigation of undue delays, specifically, delays of 12 years.
The defendants face sentences of up to eight years in prison for crimes of public disorder, attack on authority, resistance, damage and injuries.
During the demonstration, authorized by the Government delegation and in which corruption, bipartisanship and the democratic crisis were protested, around 6,000 people gathered at the Neptune Square peacefully. The protest ended up being broken up by police charges. The final balance was 34 arrested and 64 injured, 27 of them police officers.
With slogans such as “They call it democracy and it is not” and “We are not paying for this crisis”, thousands of people gathered near the Congress of Deputies starting at six in the afternoon on September 25, 2012.
Starting at seven in the afternoon, the police charges began and chaos broke out, resulting in moments of great tension. Twelve years later, 21 protesters are being tried.
Before starting the hearing, the lawyers of five of the accused have reached an agreement with the parties by acknowledging the crimes. As highly qualified undue delays have been applied, due to the delay being twelve years, the requests for a prison sentence will be reduced to a fine.
In this way, six of the accused recognize a crime of public disorder, for which they accept a sentence of eleven months in prison, but replaceable with a fine. Two other defendants are also sentenced to eleven months for the crime of aggravated attack with the use of a dangerous instrument and for three others, two months and twenty days in prison for basic attack.
One of the injured police officers stated in the opening session of the trial that “such violence by organized anti-fascist or anarchist groups had never been seen in Madrid”, thus justifying the police charges and arrests against the accused. On the contrary, “thousands of people demonstrated peacefully.”
According to the agent, the activists who started the disorders used the technique of Black Block. which consists of wearing black clothing to avoid being identified by the authorities and with material to break up the protest such as wooden sticks and shields.
The rest of the accused have not wanted to reach agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office because they deny being the authors of the crimes they are accused of and ask for free acquittal; They have requested to testify at the end of the oral hearing. The Public Ministry requests sentences of between three years and eight months and eight years and two months in prison for them.
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