The Spanish Daniel Sancho, suspected of murder in Thailand, is already in prison. The 29-year-old had been at the police station since Friday, when he confessed to having killed Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, although he claimed to be a “hostage” of the surgeon.
Arrieta arrived on the island on August 2 and his alleged murderer went to look for him at the airport.. During the early hours of August 3, Sancho himself reported the disappearance of his friend to the Police.
Capital punishment
Daniel is the son of the Madrid actor Rodolfo Sancho, who in turn is the son of the legendary actor Sancho Gracia.. If convicted by Thai justice, he may even face the death penalty.
Under Thailand's Penal Code, a person convicted of murder can face 15-20 years' imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty (although rarely applied today).. If he pleads guilty, the sentence will most likely not be death but life.
No extradition treaty with Spain
In addition, Thailand does not have an extradition treaty with Spain.. In general, as diplomatic sources explain to Europa Press, every time there is a case of a Spaniard imprisoned in a country with which there is no agreement for the transfer of convicts, an attempt is made to negotiate a new one.. Although any Spaniard convicted abroad has the right to request their transfer, it will only take place if the two governments give their approval, something that does not always happen.
The fact that the victim is Colombian and not Thai plays in favor of Daniel Sancho
In principle, the options for Sancho to serve the hypothetical sentence in our country are few, but the fact that the victim is Colombian and not Thai plays in his favor.. Thai prisons are notorious for their harshness and poor conditions.
Artur Segarra, January 2016
Daniel Sancho is not the first Spaniard accused of murder in Thailand. The case of Artur Segarra comes to mind to all of us. In 2016 he was convicted of killing Daniel Bernat in Bangkok and sentenced to death.
According to the police investigation, Segarra kidnapped Bernat on January 19, 2016 and held him for seven days in the apartment he had rented in Bangkok, where the murder occurred.. The Spaniard fled to Cambodia, where he was arrested two days later and handed over to the Thai authorities on February 8, 2016.
Sentenced to death
The authorities had found traces of blood that belonged to Bernat in Segarra's apartment, in addition to recordings from security cameras where the two appear entering the apartment block, which the victim never left alive.. The first remains of the dismembered corpse were found on January 30 and six days later the Police identified Segarra as the main suspect.
In April 2017, a court of first instance accepted the evidence presented by the Police and sentenced the Spaniard to the death penalty.. A year later, an appeal court upheld the death sentence for Segarra, finding the convict's allegations “unfounded” and once again considered the evidence and testimonies collected by the Police valid.
royal pardon
Finally, in November 2019, the Supreme Court of Thailand upheld the death sentence for the Spanish. Segarra only had one card left to play: request a royal pardon from the Royal House of Thailand to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.. Then, after serving 8 years in prison there, he could request extradition to Spain.
That made. He sent a letter to the king of the country to ask for clemency and avoid his execution. In August 2020, King Vajiralongkorn turned 68 and for this reason he signed several pardons, including Segarra, whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Segarra was fleeing from another crime
But, what was Segarra doing in Thailand? Flee. In the summer of 2015, the so-called 'Operation Cocoon' uncovered in the province of Barcelona a plot of lawyers and notaries accused of defrauding 128 people to get their homes. 17 were processed. Considered one of the largest real estate frauds committed in Spain, its victims included the elderly and citizens with financial problems.
Francisco Comitre, a lawyer and former model, was the alleged mastermind of the scam and with him Enrique Peña, a Barcelona notary, and Artur Segarra, who fled to Thailand during the investigation of the case. This year, Comitre has been sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison for a crime of drug trafficking.
Almost 900 Spanish prisoners around the world
Segarra is one of the four Spaniards serving a sentence in the Lard Yao prison in Bangkok, where Daniel Sancho is expected to be interned. In addition to Segarra, another Spaniard imprisoned in this jail is for blood crimes.
Not in Thailand, but in Malaysia, Víctor Eduardo Parada, a citizen with Bolivian and Spanish nationality, had his nightmare (in our country he lived in his youth).. The Thai court sentenced him to death for transporting 450 grams of cocaine. After spending five years in a Kuala Lumpur prison, on July 24 he was released and returned to Bolivia, whose government carried out the procedures for his repatriation.. He talks about “miracle”.
According to data from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are 875 Spanish prisoners in prisons in the rest of the world, the majority (55%) for drug trafficking cases (data from September 2022).. Almost half of them (46%) are in prisons in France, Germany and Morocco.
The Government has evidence of 27 Spaniards sentenced to life imprisonment and one more to death in Egypt (Ahmed el Saadany Ghaly, with Spanish nationality and Egyptian origin).
The 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons is in force with some 60 countries, to which both European and non-European countries are a party, while with another 34 there are specific bilateral agreements that have been negotiated.