Life imprisonment, death penalty… What can Daniel Sancho face? "The Thai penal code is severe with homicides"

The Spanish Daniel Sancho (29), in prison after being arrested on Saturday on the Thai island of Koh Phangan on charges of premeditated murder, concealment and theft of parts of the body of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta (44), could be sentenced to a penalty ranging from 15-20 years in prison to the death penalty.

“The Thai penal code is especially severe with homicides,” Elena Regulez Morales, head of the criminal area of J. L. Casajuana, a law firm with extensive experience in international criminal law and extraditions.

Article 288 of the Thai code states that the penalties for homicide can range from 15 to 20 years in prison, and be raised if there are aggravating circumstances such as cruelty or cruelty.. In some cases, the legislation provides for life sentences or even the death penalty.

Sancho, son of actor Rodolfo Sancho, who has admitted to the Thai Police his participation in the murder and has stated that he is willing to cooperate in the case, entered prison on Monday.

According to Regulez, Sancho “will have to be tried in Thailand yes or yes and later, once there is a final conviction, which I predict will be appeals, diplomatic work will come into play so that he can fulfill the sentence in Spain.”. There is an agreement signed by Spain and the kingdom of Thailand on December 7, 1983 of an instruction “that allows the cooperation of both countries in terms of the execution of criminal sentences,” explains Regulez.

The criminal law expert believes that the objective that the defense team of the young Spaniard detained in Tailanida should set is to avoid a death sentence, which would make it impossible for him to return to Spain. He considers that the confession made by Sancho before a judge has started his prosecution could benefit him as a mitigation.

The background of Artur Segarra

Before Sancho another Spaniard, Artur Segarra, was sentenced to death in Thailand in 2019. In his case, which reached the country's Supreme Court, Segarra was found guilty of kidnapping, robbing and murdering another Spaniard, David Bernat, in Bangkok in 2016.

Segarra denied throughout the judicial proceedings his participation in the facts with which he was accused. The Thai high court accepted the images from the security cameras or the DNA evidence presented by the Police, among other evidence. “In the absence of eyewitnesses, the evidence presented is consistent to prove the guilt of the defendant. He premeditatedly committed the murder with the intent to steal the victim's money.”

According to the sentence, the victim was subjected to torture and humiliation, as well as deprivation of water and food for six days, to force him to give the passwords to his bank accounts.

A year later, in 2020, the King of Thailand commuted the death sentence to which the Spanish Artur Segarra was sentenced to another life sentence.. Segarra was one of the prisoners who benefited from the royal pardon on the occasion of the 68th birthday of the monarch Maha Vajiralongkorn.

To obtain clemency, Segarra, who is still imprisoned in Thailand without having been extradited to Spain for the moment, had to send a letter in which he acknowledged his guilt for the first time.

According to experts in international law, diplomatic action will also be of exceptional importance in the case that is now being opened against Daniel Sancho. “In addition to advising the family in the search for a good local defense team with the advice of Spanish lawyers, they must be aware that international legal guarantees are complied with throughout the process.. And, if in the worst case scenario he were sentenced to death, there would have to be a very important diplomatic intervention to try to commute it to life imprisonment, something that in Thailand is the prerogative of the king,” explains Elena Regulez.

The agreement for the prisoner convicted in Thailand to serve his sentence in Spain is not viable with the death penalty, but with a life sentence, explains the lawyer. “Because in Spain there is a reviewable life sentence. If Daniel Sancho came to Spain with a life sentence, his sentence could be reviewed, given that the agreement stipulates that after the transfer the sentence depends on the receiving state.”

“Without any doubt, Spanish prisons are better than Thai ones,” says Regulez, “in Thailand there is a very difficult survival environment, overcrowding problems, lack of hygiene, nutrition is not optimal and there is more violence between inmates” .