What will happen after Daniel Sancho is sentenced to life imprisonment? Appeals, deadlines and prison in which he will serve his sentence

After the Thai courts announced on Thursday that Daniel Sancho had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder and dismemberment of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, committed in August last year on the island of Pangan, a series of questions have arisen about the next steps in the procedure, the way in which this sentence can be served in the country’s prison system, and the possibility that the Spaniard can achieve some kind of reduction in his sentence. Some of these questions are answered below.

What are the deadlines for appealing a court decision? Both the lawyers for Daniel Sancho’s defence and those for the co-accusation, who represent the interests of the Arrieta family, have one month to present their appeals from the moment they are notified of the sentence, although an extension of up to four months can be requested, according to criminologist Ramón Chippirrás, who is part of the Spanish legal team in charge of Sancho’s defence. The event held this Thursday in Samui (Thailand) was the reading of the judicial document, which included the ruling. Now, the sentence will have to be delivered to the parties. The procedure is very “meticulous and formal”, as Juan Gonzalo Ospina, the lawyer for the Arrieta family, explained on TVE this Thursday. The Thai lawyer they have appointed to the case will receive a copy of the sentence “in the next few days” and from there the period for filing the appeal will begin to count, in the provincial court of Samui, which is the body that issued the sentence. Chippirrás estimates that the court will take “7 or 10 days” to deliver the ruling, but adds that they must then carry out the translation work. First, from Thai to English and then from English to Spanish, in order to be able to study the court ruling. Then they will be in a position to begin filing their appeal. Once the first instance has been exhausted, the parties can also appeal to the Supreme Court. The entire procedure, both the appeal and the Supreme Court, usually lasts a year, according to legal sources cited by Efe.

What does a life sentence entail in Thailand? Is there a possibility of reducing this sentence? The life sentence in Thailand does not allow for any prospects of parole in the future. Sancho’s defense lawyers will try to get his sentence reduced through the appeals they have already announced. If this route is not successful, there is also the possibility that his case will be included in the clemency measures granted by the Thai monarch Maha Vajiralongkorn, who reigns as Rama X. Javier Casado, director of the +34 Foundation, dedicated to assisting Spanish prisoners abroad, explained on Thursday that, based on his decade-long experience with other people sentenced to life imprisonment in the Asian country – in this case for drug trafficking, since his foundation does not assist those investigated for blood crimes or sexual assault – Sancho could try to benefit from one of those pardons granted on holidays, such as the day of the monarch’s birthday, every July 28. To do so, he must meet a series of requirements, such as having paid compensation to the family and having asked for forgiveness for the damage caused. This request for pardon, which is being processed by the Ministry of Justice, would allow the life sentence to be changed to a sentence of years determined by the Ministry of Justice, and then the possibility of continuing to serve his sentence in a Spanish prison would be more feasible.

Are there agreements with Thailand so that Sancho could return to Spain? Since 1983, Spain and Thailand have maintained a bilateral agreement which allows cooperation in the enforcement of sentences. This agreement allows Spanish citizens to finish serving their sentence in their country of origin provided that the sentence is final, that there is no other open procedure, and the minimum time established by the Thai justice system has been served in prison. This minimum, which depends on each case, would range between four and eight years, according to the sources consulted. This transfer is requested through diplomatic channels, and among the cases included in the bilateral agreement is that of those sentenced to life imprisonment, such as Sancho. Although the agreement includes this possibility in its article four, practice has shown that life imprisonment complicates the process and makes it advisable to change it to another in which “a specific date” of completion is set. This is what happened to María Nieves García Alcaraz, a woman from Albacete who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand in 2011 after the police found 3.1 kilos of crystal methamphetamine, a synthetic drug, in her luggage. García Alcaraz pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, which is provided for under Thai law in certain drug trafficking cases. However, he had to wait for the king of the Asian country to reduce his sentence to 25 years in order to complete the procedures for his transfer to Spain. He succeeded in doing so in 2019.

Will Daniel Sancho remain in the same prison? No, because the Thai prison system sorts its prisoners by the severity of their sentences, explains the director of the +34 Foundation. Since he was arrested just over a year ago, Sancho has remained in the Thai prison of Samui, where there are pre-trial prisoners and other inmates with sentences of up to 15 years in prison. During the hearing, Sancho asked on Thursday to remain in this penitentiary centre, but the magistrate indicated to him that the law does not allow this possibility. Sancho will be transferred to the prison of Surat Thani, as the prisoner himself has stated to the Efe agency and has confirmed the Samui prison, where he has been since he was arrested for the crime just over a year ago. According to the convicted man stated on Friday, the transfer will be made “immediately”, although prison sources from both centres have refused to specify the time because it is confidential information.

Is there a chance that Sancho will serve time in the Bangkok prison nicknamed ‘The Big Tiger’? Once the appeals filed by the parties are resolved and the sentence becomes final, it is very possible that the Spaniard will be transferred to Bang Kwang prison, according to the director of the +34 Foundation. “It is an unwritten agreement, but always complied with by the Thai authorities, that foreign prisoners are as close as possible to their consulates and embassies,” Casado explained. The centre stands out because its inmates are especially dangerous prisoners, many with blood crimes, and because of the overcrowding situation, something that leads to health problems, such as lack of space, food or hygiene, he added.

What was the case of Artur Segarra, a precedent for Sancho? Spaniard Artur Segarra was sentenced to death by a Bangkok court in 2017 for the premeditated murder of his compatriot David Bernat, and was transferred days after the sentence from Bangkok Remand prison to the capital’s maximum security Bang Kwang prison, where he remains and where most of those sentenced to capital punishment are held. According to the investigation, Segarra suffocated Bernat with a plastic bag, dismembered his body and then threw it into Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. Segarra’s sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in 2020 by clemency of King Vajiralongkorn, who has the power to grant pardons and commute the death penalty to a lesser punishment.