The Third Section of the Jaén Court plans to judge this Thursday seven people, aged between 35 and 27, accused of the physical and verbal assault suffered by a 51-year-old man and which was supposedly caused by the sexual orientation of the victim.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office demands that the seven detainees be sentenced as alleged perpetrators of a hate crime to two years in prison and a fine of 300 euro for a minor crime of injuries. In addition, the Public Ministry demands another three years in prison and fines of 2,400 euro from two of the accused as alleged perpetrators of a crime of obstruction of justice.
Also sitting in the dock as the eighth defendant will be a woman from whom the Prosecutor’s Office is requesting a three-year prison sentence as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of obstruction of justice, according to the classification of the Prosecutor’s Office.
In terms of civil liability, the Prosecutor’s Office requests that the accused compensate the victim with 2,500 euro for moral damages and 315 euro for physical damages. It also requests that they compensate for the medical assistance provided to the victim.
The Public Ministry states that the attack occurred “only because the accused did not admit to having a certain sexual orientation,” hence they chose to “humiliate and harass him.”
The events occurred in the early morning of July 17, 2021 when the victim was trying to buy ice after the opening of a new bar, and came across a group of people.
Subsequently, they allegedly stripped him of his shirt and threw him into a fountain, hitting his back against one of the pipes. When he managed to get out, he reported that they threw drinks at him and even urinated on him shouting homophobic insults at him.
The Prosecutor’s Office recounts in its writing the “hostile and humiliating” behaviour of the accused, assaulting and mocking him. The “ashamed and scared” victim managed to flee to his house “while the defendants chased him,” until he was finally able to reach his home.
Investigators collected different testimonies, as well as numerous evidence in order to identify and arrest the alleged perpetrators. Finally, the judicial authority issued a restraining order to protect the victim, while the detainees were released with charges.
Regarding the three accused of obstruction of justice, the Prosecutor’s Office points out that a few days after the attack occurred, they approached a witness and the victim to warn them that if they spoke, they would have “serious problems.” The wife of one of the accused, who will also sit in the dock, is also accused of having threatened to kill a witness.
At the time, this aggression was publicly condemned by the Jaén City Council and by the Territorial Delegation of the International Human Rights Foundation for the Province of Jaén.
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