Since the end of December, five of the main convicts of the first phase of the belt attack have improved their prison situation, in two cases before half their sentences have been served. Former Treasurer of the PP Luis Bárcenas; his wife Rosalía Iglesias; The two heads of the network, Francisco Correa and Pablo Crespo, former organizing secretary of the Galician PP, and former Madrid City Councilor Alberto López Viejo, have seen justice “violating the criteria in four of the five cases”. of penal institutions – granted them semi-freedom or, in the case of López Viejo, restricted daily departures. However, everyone has their own prison calendar ahead of them, according to various court documents. Four hope to have met the legal requirements for a judge’s release between late 2024 and 2027.
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Luis Barcenas. On December 27, the former Treasurer went to the Victoria Kent Social Integration Center (CIS) in Madrid to enjoy the semi-liberty he had been granted days earlier by prisons. Bárcenas was sentenced to 29 years and one month in prison, and by then had served more than half of the 12 years of effective compliance found by the National Court for more than a year. In his case, the semi-liberty was the result of the application of Article 100.2 of the Penitentiary Regime, which allows prisoners who, like him, are classified in the second degree (the ordinary degree in which more than 70% of prisoners are) in Spain have access to third-degree benefits degrees, such as B. Daily departures. Since then he has left prison for 15 hours a day to go to work. Although this situation is effectively a third degree, Bárcenas has unsuccessfully attempted to penetrate this classification. The judge rejected it last July.
If he finally succeeds (every six months the classification of the inmates is checked), although he would gain advantages in the short term (from 36 to 48 vacation days per year), but above all it would allow him to aim to release them in the medium term. According to his prison calendar included in the July order, he will have served two-thirds of his sentence by September 20, 2024, which would open the door for a judge to grant him so-called “early parole,” an exceptional measure. provided for in Article 91 of the Criminal Code. Just a year later, he will complete three quarters to seek ordinary parole (Article 90). To achieve either, Bárcenas must be placed precisely in the third degree, in addition to the respective time requirements, in addition to good behavior and, in the event of early release, “continuously developed work, culture”. , or professionally”. The former treasurer, who attended a workshop on restorative justice and participates in a rehabilitation program for white-collar criminals, is using his time off from the CIS to work with an NGO alongside his work as an accountant. The former treasurer will lift the penalty on September 19, 2028.
Pablo Crespo. The one who was number 2 in the Belt frame-up is sentenced to a total of 73 years and 4 months in prison in five parts of the corruption macro, although the state court has found the maximum sentence for him is 18 years. He was already halfway done last December. In his case, and unlike the former Treasurer of the PP, the judiciary awarded him the third sentence in February, so that in December 2025, when he has served two-thirds of the sentence, he will You can request that the judge granted you early parole. If it fails, it would meet the preliminary normal requirement in June 2027. He will lift the penalty on December 12, 2031. The February court order granting him semi-liberty according to penitentiary criteria highlighted that Crespo had obtained 11 permits “without incident” for which he was held civilly liable participated in a reintegration program. The resolution also highlighted his cooperation with the judiciary.
Francis Correa. In seven corruption trials he was sentenced to 105 years and seven months in prison. The National Court sentenced the leader of the conspiracy to a maximum sentence of 18 years. Although he still has to sit on the bench in three other trials, the court’s decision in June, which granted him the third degree, already showed that the hypothetical sentences will not extend his sentence. As with his second, his access to semi-freedom was against the criteria of the penal institutions. The judge considered that he deserved this achievement because his development in prison had been “very positive” and he had worked with the judiciary in addition to having had a job offer. Now that half the sentence has been served since 2022, his hearing will be held in July 2025 when he will have served two thirds of the sentence and in January 2027 when he has reached three quarters of the sentence. The sentence does not expire until July 9, 2031.
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Rosalia Iglesias. Bárcenas’ wife agreed to semi-release last Monday after the National Court corrected the penal institutions and ordered them to apply Article 100.2 of the Prison Code to the former treasurer. Sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison, maximum sentence set at seven years and six months. Since she is not in pre-trial detention, unlike her husband, Crespo or Correa, her degree of compliance with the sentence is lower, albeit lower. In fact, it has not yet completed half of it (it will be in July 2024) and two-thirds will not be achieved until October of the following year. There are two more dates in red on his prison calendar: on May 28, 2026 he will have served three quarters of his sentence and on April 11, 2028 his sentence will expire. Like Bárcenas, Correa and Crespo, he is serving his sentence in the CIS state of Victoria Kent, from where he will soon be able to leave daily to work and help at an NGO. In addition, you must attend rehabilitation programs by order of the judge.
Alberto Lopez Viejo. The former advisor to the Autonomous Community of Madrid is the one with the longest prison sentences of the five. López Viejo was sentenced to 27 years and 10 months, of which he must serve 13 years and nine months. He will not serve half of his sentence until April next year. Thus, it will not reach two-thirds until July 2027; three quarters to September 2028 and will not expire until February 13, 2032. Although he hoped that Article 100.2 of the Prison Code would be applied to him – the same as that applied to Bárcenas and Iglesias – the judge opted in July to apply a different Article 117, which allows him to volunteer with Ukrainian refugees several times a week work, although he is in the second degree of prison. It is the same article for which Iñaki Urdangarin left Ávila prison several days a week from 2019, also to work with an NGO. However, the judge pointed out in the order that the former consultant would be given “greater degrees of freedom in the not too distant future” if the “positive” development continued.
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