Yesterday, Wednesday, Rodolfo Sancho visited his son, Daniel (29), for the first time in prison on the Thai island of Samui, where he has been serving a provisional sentence since August 7 for the murder of Colombian Edwin Arrieta. Two days earlier he had been arrested on the island of Phanghan, where the crime and the subsequent quartering were committed.
The Spanish actor, who had been in Thailand since Sunday, arrived at the prison around 8:50 a.m. local time, accompanied by the Spanish lawyer Marcos García Montes, and spent about three hours there. The center only allows relatives visits of 15 or 20 minutes, but visits by lawyers can last up to three hours.
After the visit, Rodolfo Sancho addressed the media, who were at the gates of the Koh Samui prison. He intended to say a few words to them, as he had promised at Madrid-Barajas airport, before traveling to Bangkok: "I'll talk later," he said in the terminal.
At the prison gates, Daniel Sancho's father began by saying that he wanted to "express condolences and my deepest condolences" to Edwin Arrieta's family. He then declared his respect for Thailand's Justice and "my son loves this country, its people and its culture."
Sancho had written down on a piece of paper what he wanted to say in front of the cameras: "Regarding the judicial process, we are waiting for the report from the Prosecutor's Office and until then we cannot do anything".
Finally, he asked the journalists and photographers to leave the prison gates, since in the successive visits he will make to see his son, he will no longer speak to the media.
But before that he said some words of criticism that have raised some controversy: "For that part of the press that thinks I'm crying, that's not me. There are two ways to take things, as a misfortune or as a challenge. I think I've said enough. They won't get tears from me," said the actor.
The media then asked him about Daniel's situation, how the meeting had been and if he had seen the video of the reconstruction of the events broadcast by Y ahora Sonsoles, from Antena 3. Visibly upset, he said he would not answer personal questions
Then he got into the car and Marcos García Montes was the one who stayed to attend to the press. He announced that a working group had been created for the case, made up of lawyers of Thai nationality, as required by the regulations, and a Spanish team.
The media lawyer pointed out that he would not reveal any details of the conversations with Sancho and pointed out that the goal of his team is to obtain a court decision that provides for the transfer of prisoners between Thailand and Spain so that Daniel can return to his country from here four years According to an agreement between the two countries, Spanish prisoners sentenced in Thailand can request a transfer to a prison in Spain after serving at least four years of the sentence, as long as it is not capital punishment.
After concluding the first round of visits and duties in Thailand, both the lawyer and Rodolfo Sancho plan to return to Spain this Saturday. For her part, Silvia Bronchalo, mother of Daniel Sancho, has been in Samui since August 17 and has visited her son in prison almost every day.
