The death by antifreeze poisoning of the bear known as Cachou, in April 2020, seems to be very close to reaching trial. The head of the Court of First Instance and Instruction of Viella has issued two resolutions this June by which, on the one hand, the request for annulment of the case is rejected and, on the other, a period of 10 days is granted to the prosecutor’s office and the accusations so that they request the opening of an oral trial or the dismissal of the case.
Everything weighs in that at least one of the three parties appearing as a private prosecution will request that the two people on whom the possible accusation is maintained end up being tried. On them, as the current judge of Viella has now indicated, an investigation for crimes against fauna (due to the death of Cachou), prevarication and disclosure of secrets (due to the official information exchanged between the two defendants indicating the location of the Cachou bear immediately before its death).
The judge of the Court of First Instance and Instruction of Viella has now issued two resolutions that clarify the processing of the Cachou case and leave the case ready for the more than probable holding of the trial against the two people investigated (possible defendants): Aran Medan Guerrero , who at the time of the events was a member of the Vall d’Aran Environmental Agents corps and had access to the location data of the poisoned bear; and José Antonio Boya Quintana, member of the Consell General d’Aran and former Territory Councilor of this same body of the Aranese government.
On the one hand, the current judge of Viella dismisses the petition of the defenses of the two investigated who considered that all the investigations should be annulled and the case dismissed because the previous head of this sole court of Viella (now retired from the judiciary) published an article on the internet commenting on the importance and complexity of the Cachou case. The defenses argued that the judge who on her day investigated the case showed bias that could be understood against those investigated.
The current judge of Viella rejects these arguments, recalling that the previous judge signed the document denounced when she was no longer a member of the judiciary and, therefore, it cannot be considered an interference in the case but an exercise of freedom of expression.
On the other hand, the current judge upholds the appeal for reform filed against the order of October 12, 2022 and, to resolve this situation, presents the facts more clearly.
It maintains Aran Medan Guerrero and José Antonio Boya Quintana as investigated (and possible defendants), indicating that, “with the provisional nature of the procedural moment in which we find ourselves”, from the proceedings carried out the possible imputation of these two defendants in the disclosure of the data that allowed the animal to be located, “and proceed to its elimination by poisoning it with ethylene glycol”.
The new order of the current judge of Viella indicates that “the existence of such facts is presumed by the concurrence of different indications” detailed in the police reports. Thus, the judge recalls conversations in WhatsApp groups, “in which actions against the bear were openly planned”, in which the two defendants participated.
The judge orders the continuation of the preliminary proceedings and transfers the case to the prosecutor’s office and the accusations filed so that, within 10 days, they request the opening of an oral trial, the dismissal of the case or, exceptionally, the practice of complementary proceedings .
