The alleged murder of Colombian Edwin Arrieta by Spaniard Daniel Sancho in the tourist enclave of Koh Phangan, in southern Thailand, was one of the most talked about cases of last year. The event will continue to be one of the most covered by the media this year, since in just three months (April 9) the young chef, 29 years old, will face the trial that could condemn him to capital punishment, still legal in the Asian country.
His defense team in Spain, made up of the Chippirrás-Balfagón firm and Marcos GarcÃa-Montes, is working against the clock in the process. However, the case has just taken a new turn, as the lawyers have just announced their first official press conference and with a surprising reason: to denounce the “irregularities” that occurred in the Thai Police investigation.
A press conference that will be held this coming Friday, January 12 at 12:30 p.m., and will be attended by the lawyers of the Chippirrás-Balfagón firm, in addition to GarcÃa Montes himself. All of them have been working for months to prove that the murder of Edwin Arrieta was accidental and not premeditated, as the police of the Asian country claim.
The objective of this work is none other than to avoid the capital punishment or life imprisonment requested by the Prosecutor’s Office in Thailand, and thus be able to obtain a reduced sentence – with the option of finishing it in Spain, if the necessary conditions are met.
GarcÃa Montes exposed some of these “irregularities” a few weeks ago in one of his television appearances talking about the case, ensuring that there were turning points that could turn around Daniel Sancho’s situation.
The lawyer was very angry with the information that the Thai police claim to be leaking: “On August 21, the police, who have been leaking and permanently revealing secrets, leak that there has been a fight between Sancho and Arrieta. So I say , premeditation is over.”
Nor does he understand the presence of the deputy director of the Thai National Police, Surachate Hakparn, known as “Big Joke” and investigated for alleged corruption. “In all this this character appears, we have never known who he is and it seems that he leaks everything to the press.”
The famous criminal lawyer from Seville was also very critical of the work of the public defenders that Daniel Sancho has had so far, even accusing the first of them of hiding part of the investigation material from them.
In provisional prison on the island of Samui since August 7, Sancho, son of the well-known actor Rodolfo Sancho, awaits trial for the alleged murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, 44 years old.
The two men had met the previous year through Instagram thanks to their common interest in gastronomy and, after several meetings in different places, they traveled separately to Phangan, with the intention of meeting on this Thai island. That would be where Arrieta would lose his life, presumably at the hands of Sancho, on the night of August 3.
The judge’s ruling is not expected until approximately a month after the trial, and if declared and depending on the sentence, Sancho could then be transferred from the Samui prison to a maximum security prison in Thailand.
