The Supreme Court has sentenced six young people to 15 months in prison for a crime of aggravated damage for having painted some carriages on line 1 of the Barcelona Metro, while imposing a fine of 2,700 euro each and orders joint compensation to the company Ferrocarril Metropolitana de Barcelona SA with 4,175 euro.
The magistrates have partially upheld the appeal filed by the private prosecution exercised by said company and have agreed to annul the sentence of the Provincial Court of Barcelona by which the acquittal of the six young people had been confirmed, agreed by the Criminal Court Number 23 of the city of Barcelona.
Thus, the high court has corrected the lower instances, which said that the graffiti was not a crime because it did not generate impairment or deterioration of the wagons that required their replacement, but their tarnishing.
In the sentence, the Criminal Chamber has explained the reasons why it disagrees with this criterion and has ratified its jurisprudential doctrine on the crime of damages contemplated in the Criminal Code.
In 15 pages, the court has specified that “there are areas in which, while there is no physical destruction or impairment of the material object, there is, however, a deterioration linked to a relevant alteration of its external appearance.”
In this case, the magistrates have considered that the action of the young people did cause damage to the carriages and that an economic contribution was necessary for their repair.
In the resolution, for which Judge Antonio del Moral has been a rapporteur, the Supreme Court has insisted that “it is difficult” to affirm that “the carriages have not been damaged and/or deteriorated, when a repair is necessary, economically assessable, for their replacement to the state in which their holder had them”.
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