The trial against Daniel Sancho for the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta continues in Thailand. This Tuesday, April 30, the Koh Samui Provincial Court resumed its activity after a few days of hiatus due to various technical problems in the building. However, the fourth week of sessions has begun with the most important testimony: that of Daniel Sancho.
The statement by Rodolfo Sancho's son, which lasted approximately four hours, will continue this coming Wednesday, May 1, with questions from the prosecution and the co-accusation, since today he has only answered questions from his lawyer and the defense. .
Hours later, the lawyer for Edwin Arrieta's family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, explained in the program Así es la vida the reason why his team had sent a letter to the Spanish ambassador in Thailand in which they expressed their total disagreement with the presence of the vice-consul, Ignacio Vitónica Hamilton, in all sessions of the trial against Daniel Sancho
''Before sending this letter we consulted and spoke with different members of the diplomatic corps and all of them showed their surprise. A consul is there to advise or recommend legal guidance, to accompany the first days of the trial, but they have never seen in a procedure that kind of international observer in the name of...I still don't know what, also paid by all the Spaniards and especially in a case where Daniel Sancho has admitted to being a dismemberer,'' he declared.
Furthermore, the lawyer assured that during his professional career handling international cases, in Malta or Germany, he had never encountered a similar situation. ''In those countries there is no death penalty, there is a much greater openness of rights and democracy. Embassy sources have said that it is a usual procedure in cases where they are trying for a death sentence,'' the presenter countered.
''It must be the answer they give now, but I understand that in Artur Segarra's trial, no one from the embassy or consulate was involved, it must be that they missed it,'' he replied. ''Are you implying that there is a favorable deal with Daniel Sancho?'' Barneda asked.
''There are many issues that have caused me deep concern, among them the presence of the vice consul in the sessions and it is something that I have never seen. I would have understood it the first days of the trial, but the fact that he went every day or almost every day with a translator in a court is an implicit message that I don't like at all. And my experience as a professional in all international criminal procedures is that the authorities do not interfere in the country's judicial procedures.
Regarding the information that puts Sancho's lawyer, Aprichart Srinual, and the prosecutor, Jeerawat Sawatdichai, in the spotlight for alleged night outings, the Spanish lawyer confessed that it was not something common "neither there nor in Spain." ''Forms must be kept because otherwise it can be misinterpreted,'' he stated.
