The man whom some traffickers tried to burn alive in a drug store in Barcelona was beaten by friends of the defendants to keep him silent before the trial began. They told him not to speak and to leave the country. The affected person was attacked on May 28 by two people in the Duc de Medinaceli square in Barcelona. This was indicated by the prosecutor in the case, Alexandra GarcÃa Tabernero, at the beginning of her oral hearing, in which she has demanded protection measures for the victim while the trial lasts for fear of harsh reprisals. The court has accepted them and has endorsed that he testify in a separate room without contact with the accused. Sources from the Prosecutor’s Office suspect that the beating could be an order made by the defendants from jail, where they have remained in a preventive state since they were arrested in 2020.
Five people sit on the bench, four of them accused of attempted murder. They dedicated themselves to occupying homes in the center of Barcelona and setting up points of sale and consumption of drugs inside. They ran narco-apartments in Robador, Còdols and Mar streets. On February 7, 2020, they wanted to install a narco-apartment in a house on Magatzems street, in the Barceloneta neighborhood, but they were met with the refusal of the tenant, who was a person of his around. It was two in the morning when they tried to access the apartment but the tenant did not open the door for them. At five in the morning, they returned, climbed over the facade and managed to enter the home. The man was gagged and bound hand and foot. Then, they set fire to the house by spraying it with flammable liquid with the man inside. The victim was able to escape by rolling on the floor of the house to the balcony and falling from a height of three meters to the street, where he could be helped by the neighbors.
In the first session of the trial, one of the defendants was absent, who was declared in absentia. There is also a sixth accused, a woman of Italian nationality, who allegedly participated in the distribution of the drugs but is not related to the attempt to burn the victim alive. For her, the prosecution requests a sentence of four years in prison.
The affected party will testify today and give his version of the facts. He will do it in a nearby room without eye contact with the other defendants. In addition, he claims 300,000 euros as civil liability for post-traumatic stress caused by the events. The Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of 22 years in prison for the four defendants for attempted murder, arson and drug trafficking.
