The legal proceedings for the death of the bear known as Cachou, poisoned with antifreeze in April 2020 in a forest in Les (Aran Valley), could finally be very close to reaching trial. After almost four years of investigation and judicial procedures, including various vicissitudes, the new judge in charge of the case (appointed head of the Court of First Instance and Investigation number 1 of Vielha e Mijaran on February 1) seems determined to conclude the proceedings as soon as possible. possible, as can be seen from the four documents (two orders and two orders) signed on this case a few weeks after taking office.
If no new problems arise and the pending appeals are concluded, once the briefs of the prosecution and the accused parties have been confirmed, the case could be ready for the holding of the oral trial.
The two people investigated who could be tried are Aran Medan Guerrero, Environment Agent of the Vall d’Aran and person who could have had access and disseminated the location data of the poisoned bear; and José Antonio Boya Quintana, member of the General Council of Aran at the time the events occurred and former Territorial Councilor of this same body of the Aranese government, a person who on several occasions had commented that the life of a person could be ended. bear using antifreeze.
The investigation maintains the possible existence of crimes against wildlife (due to the death of Cachou), prevarication and revelation of secrets (due to the official information exchanged between the two accused in which the location of bears in the Pyrenees was indicated).
The judicial proceedings completed in June 2023 indicated that “from the procedures carried out, the possible indictment of these two defendants in the disclosure of the data that allowed the animal to be located, and to proceed to its elimination by poisoning it with ethylene glycol, can be deduced.” On that date, the opening of the oral trial seemed imminent, but the presentation of new appeals and the limited activity of the provisional judge of Viella in charge of the case once again delayed the processing.
The reactivation carried out by the new head of this court (the only one in the Aran Valley) includes in one of its orders a phrase that can be interpreted as a criticism of the lack of agility and effectiveness of the procedures carried out until now. Referring to the impossibility of accepting one of the appeals presented, the judge indicates as legal reasoning: “Due to the extensive investigation that has been carried out, and that has lasted excessively, for whatever reason, the instruction by not issuing an ad hoc resolution and extending it”.
Due to this legal setback, it has not been possible to carry out a procedure requesting the economic assessment of the damage caused by the death of the Cachou bear. However, the new judge indicates that “nothing prevents” this economic assessment from being carried out “in the execution phase of the eventual conviction.” That is, if one of the two accused is considered guilty, the judge may impose a financial penalty for the damage caused by the death of the bear (as an example of an endangered species, with special legal protection).
Eduardo Gil Delgado, lawyer for Fapas (Fund for the Protection of Wild Animals) in this procedure, has highlighted that the inauguration of the new judge and his first actions on the Cachou case represent “an important procedural boost to the procedure; now it seems “the holding of the Oral Trial is imminent, since the investigation has ended and there is sufficient evidence and evidentiary elements for the opening of the Trial against those investigated.”
“From this accusation it is positively valued that the serious case of the death of de Cachou, a specimen of a species in danger of extinction in the Aran Valley, is finally brought to trial, which is a reflection of the need and obligation to make compatible exploitation and livestock activities with the conservation of biodiversity,” details Eduardo Gil Delgado.
