- Prosecutor asks for 12 and 8 years in jail, respectively, for the two former Orihuela mayors, José Manuel Medina and Mónica Lorente.
With the ending of the trial phase on Tuesday both the Prosecutor’s Office and the City Council of Orihuela demanded a prison sentence of 37 years for the ringleader in the alleged fraud, businessman Ángel Fenoll, and 12 and 8 years in jail for the two former mayors, José Manuel Medina and Mónica Lorente
Almost nine months after the most important alleged corruption case in the province of Alicante got underway, the Seventh Court of the Hearing hosted the session in which both the Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution, the City Council of Orihuela, presented their final conclusions, which did not vary substantially to the initial indictment briefs presented before the trial was set into motion.
For the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the hours and hours of police evidence, expert witnesses, businessmen, officials, technicians and telephone recordings, that have been presented during the different sessions, have not change the demand for sentences of up to 37 years in prison for Ángel Fenoll and the other 34 defendants. The Ministry has only modified its submissions by adding a number of footnotes referencing the various volumes where the documentation relating to the different criminal acts could be found.
These are crimes of fraud, prevarication, bribery, influence peddling, extortion, coercion, illicit association, electoral crime, use of privileged information, disclosure of secrets and prohibited negotiations to the authorities and officials.
Apart from Fenoll, the most striking penalties requested by the prosecutor are those for the two former Orihuela mayors, José Manuel Medina and Mónica Lorente, of 12 and 8 years in jail, respectively.
The other defendants, including councillors, advisors and businessmen, face prison terms ranging from 3 to 12 years, depending on the seriousness of the crimes that they are alleged to have committed.
Although these modifications relate mainly to the background, the defense lawyers asked the court grant an adjournment so that they can study the new footnotes added by the Prosecutor’s Office, about 150 pages, and of the private accusation, because “although we do not distrust the prosecution lawyers we want to verify the exact meaning of these modifications,” said Marino Bo, the lawyer defending Angel Fenoll.
The court agreed, and granted them a little more than a week, until November 7, for the lawyers to present their final conclusions. The Prosecutor’s Office did not oppose the suspension of the session thereby allowing the defence to study the notations.
Last Tuesday’s session saw all 34 of the accused the 34 in court as the case now enters its final stretch. It is expected that the final reports will be read in mid-November, and that the sentences will be carried out either later this year or early 2020.
