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Spain: 6 police sentenceddetainee death

01 March 1995

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On 23 February the provincial high court of the Basque province of Araba sentenced 6 of the 8 Ertzainas (Basque policemen) on trial for the death of a detainee, Juan Calvo. He had been detained in the police station of Arkaute and died on 20 August 1993. Calvo had been arrested the day before for the alleged theft of a taxi. He needed medical attention for injuries caused by truncheons and during the night there was a fight between Calvo and some Ertzainas. In court it came out that the police had used an aerosol gas spray and kept him in the locked cell for maximum effect. In the morning he was dead. The police inspector in charge was sentenced to six years for criminal negligence and five other police officers got one year in prison for criminal negligence. The Vice-Councillor of the Department of the Interior of the Basque government said the court decision was "absolutely crazy" and the police trade union said the sentence was out of all proportion. The lawyer for the Calvo family said the sentence was important because it referred to criminal negligence - there was only one precedent in which the accused was not sentenced to prison. The sentence is now being appealed. Kontrola Kontrolpean, Donostia, Euskadi (Spain).

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