The trial for the murder of three people (including two Cubans) in a law office in the Usera district of Madrid in 2016, is stagnating again and several parties are warning of possible undue delays, the EFE agency reported.
The trial has already been suspended three times by a Venezuelan court and was initiated for the fourth time last March. Seven years and three months have passed since former Marine Dahud Hanid-Ortiz traveled from Germany to Madrid on June 22, 2016, allegedly out of jealousy, and entered the law office of Víctor Joel Salas to kill him, believing him was in a relationship with his wife, but the lawyer wasn’t there.
According to the prosecution and the allegations, he killed the three people he found: the workers Elisa Consuegra and Maritza Osorio, both of Cuban origin, and the client Pepe Castillo, an Ecuadorian. He then set fire and fled until he was arrested in Venezuela in 2018, where he is on trial. for having this nationality in addition to the American one.
The trial for this crime, one of the few in Madrid with three murders, began in February 2022 in Court 15 of the Venezuelan capital and, missing only the testimony of a witness, was suspended because a change was ordered as judge for reasons that were not were announced.
Then it was suspended again because the prosecutor was changed, and later because the new prosecutor was relieved of that position for reasons unrelated to the case.
In March 2023, it began for the fourth time and the defendant’s statements were made again. by Víctor Joel Salas and numerous witnesses and police officers. However, the case has slowed down in recent weeks and the summons of the missing witnesses has not materialized, Spanish legal sources told EFE.
Three witnesses from Germany still have to be called (the defendant’s ex-wife, her sister and a friend of Dahud). and three from Madrid (one officer and two translators who were involved in the police investigation).
The court is suffering delays that are not common in Venezuela and should not be allowed, sources from the aforementioned authority emphasized. For example, they explained this in detail The court admitted that it did not hold a hearing this Thursday, October 5, because it was a public holiday in Spainalthough in reality it is a holiday on Thursday the 12th.
As soon as these circumstances are known, Lawyer Víctor Joel Salas said there appeared to be “unreasonable delays that are detrimental to the process.”“Unnecessary delays after more than seven years of litigation, resulting in defenselessness for the parties,” he added.