The judge of the Court of Instruction Number 5 of Valladolid has dated the resolution on Traspinedo (Valladolid) as of January 8, 2022 on January 13, 2022. The judge has attended to the parties in the case this Friday and has determined on that date the future of this procedure. Then it will be known if a trial is established, with a popular jury, to determine the degree of involvement of the suspect in this death, if new contributions are allowed or if the case is closed. The private accusation asks for murder, among other crimes; the Prosecutor’s Office, homicide; and the defense, the dismissal of the process. and, if the trial is agreed in January, the prosecution will demand provisional prison for him.
The hearing was held in the Valladolid courts with a large presence of family, friends and relatives of López, who was 35 years old at the time of his death. The rally, under the motto “Justice for Esther”, has charged the accused, the only person at the center of the investigation due to his involvement with the events. The screams of those present, several meters from the door of the institutional building, could be heard in the room where the summons took place, according to sources present in the court. The positions put forward have been the same as those raised during the almost three years that this case has been studied, especially since Sanz was identified as possibly responsible for the death of his friend. The private prosecution considers it a murder, among crimes such as omission of the duty to help or illegal retention. The Prosecutor’s Office believes it to be a homicide and the man’s defense demands the dismissal and annulment of guilt for his client.
The strategies also maintain their recent line, particularly on the part of Sanz’s lawyer. This has urged the incorporation into the case of some videos provided by some drivers according to which it would be demonstrated, against all the arguments of the elite corps of the Civil Guard, that López’s body was not in the ditch where it was located. three weeks that passed between his disappearance and his discovery. The victim’s relatives insist that the body was not in a visible place and that the recorded sequence does not offer certainty about that theory either. EL PAÍS has accessed that video, taken from a car, and you can barely see the place, covered by vegetation, where the remains were discovered. The lawyer for López’s sister, who is involved in the case, has criticized the suspect’s strategy and recalled that in recent months they have requested new testimonies, provided various evidence, which for them was of little packaging, and “dilated” times to lengthen the case. development: “It’s complete nonsense.”
Sanz’s defender has now demanded, many months after the start of the case, that all the agents who combed the Traspinedo area and the videos from the Civil Guard drones testify. The man’s legal representative insists on filing the case and insists that “there are no indications” that would blame him. At the moment, the accused remains free pending the resolution after January 8, when the judge determines that a trial should be called. The private prosecution will request provisional detention because it understands that the risk of escape could increase.
Esther López’s sister, Inés, has spoken to the media and has expressed the dismay and frustration of waiting for a judicial resolution for so long. “It’s been three years of hellish fighting, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. We hope that the precautionary measures change and that [el acusado] “Do not sleep at home,” said Inés López, satisfied with the recent change of magistrate in the Court of Instruction 5, after having “raised her head twice” over the decisions of the previous judge, to whom the accusations have been made. failed lukewarmness during instruction. Sources close to the process highlight that the new magistrate has extensive technological knowledge and her role in justice and that, in this way, she can give more value to the reports from the Central Operational Unit (UCO), which point to Sanz according to her movements. of that night, recorded by antennas and mobile telephone operators. López has described the performance of the investigators as “fabulous work” and defines Sanz’s defensive attitude as “ridiculous.” “Better for us”, perceiving that they focus more on dismantling the police investigations than on proving the innocence of their client. “We deserve to catch a little more air than they allow us,” he concluded, alluding to the family’s efforts to advance the case and hold a potential trial.
The deceased was last seen alive on the night of January 13, 2022, when she was with several friends until she was alone with Óscar Sanz, with whom she had a good relationship. He claims that they were driving together and that he left her, during the winter night and under the influence of narcotic substances, in a place next to a road in Traspinedo. Then, supposedly, she would have been run over. The police theory establishes that they spent several hours together and that, for unknown reasons, he intentionally ran over her with his car, next to her house, and then left her out in the open, with fatal results, and later moved and deposited her body in a ditch in the access road to the town. The body was unlocated until February 5, 2022, when a man found it in a barely visible point and began an investigation that has yet to be resolved.
