Daniel Sancho Case: the Spanish embassy borders on legality due to the disparate treatment of the prisoner and the Press

There is another Spanish prisoner, Carlos Alcañiz, sentenced a couple of years ago for murder, who in the same prison where Daniel Sancho sleeps relaxed, also spends most of his time in the infirmary, away from the crowds. In the case of the latter, kindness is associated with a psychological problem certified by doctors and for which he has treatment in perpetuity. And according to the latest information, both Spanish prisoners have been making friends for weeks.

Continuing with the benefits acquired by Daniel Sancho, in August of last year, and when he broke audiences due to the media, in addition to his entire family, he attracted a lot of attention the performance of the representative of the Spanish diploma in Bangkok, Vicente Cacho, that on the first day that Silvia Bronchalo, Daniel's mother, visited her son in the prison, she not only accompanied him to the visiting room, where the inmates attend to their loved ones through a rickety telephone, but also on the way out from the penitentiary center spoke with the media gathered there in a chatty manner. It should be known that the Spanish diplomatic corps is not known for its consular support when we are talking about prisoners and detainees, so this fell like a bucket of cold water on those who were ignored. A posteriori, Vicente Cacho received a reprimand from his superiors. Since there are no diplomatic newspapers that mirror sports newspapers, we could never know the absolute truth, even if we imagined it.

Silvia Bronchalo (R) speaks to Thai prison officials during a visit to her detained son Daniel Sancho Bronchalo at a prison in Koh Samui island, southern Thailand, 21 August 2023. SITTHIPONG CHAROENJAIEFE Agency

But the thing does not stop there, since this reporter has tried to visit not only Daniel Sancho, whom I was already warned would be completely impossible to reach – only the Efe delegate in Thailand, Ramón Abarca, has managed to do so several times -, but to Carlos Alcañiz, always receiving refusals from the Spanish embassy in Bangkok, when Alcañiz is neither famous nor has anyone from the diplomatic corps ever accompanied his family or friends to visit him.

Imprisoned compatriots

I followed the same procedure – going to a Thai prison to try to see imprisoned compatriots – to visit Artur Segarra, who He is serving a life sentence in Bang Kwang Prison in Bangkok for murder and dismemberment. of the Spanish businessman David Bernat, my attempts being put to me by the Spanish diplomatic authority, arguing the same excuses as when I wanted to visit Alcañiz, who, as I said, does not have a father, actor or celebrity: «You are not on the visit list ; “You should ask the prisoner's family to include him,” they argued. But there is something that squeaks. Regardless of that list that does exist, Anyone can visit any prisoner in Thailand. For example, I myself went to module 6 of the Bang Kwang prison, where Artur Segarra purges his excesses. And with a photocopy of your passport, as well as following the visiting hours of that module, you can access it without the slightest problem. However, it is completely impossible to carry out the same action to be able to encourage Carlos Alcañiz in the Koh Samui prison, when the man from Egarense, by the way, never premeditatedly murdered, much less dismembered.

Silvia Bronchano, mother of Daniel Sancho, is in Thailand
Silvia Bronchano, mother of Daniel Sancho, is in ThailandEFE Agency

Workers from the Koh Samui prison confirmed this, showing me a photocopied paper that they assured was a legal document, which The Spanish embassy had prohibited anyone who is not on the list from visiting Daniel Sancho.the goal of every journalist and media outlet, but even Carlos Alcañiz, a complete unknown except among his family and friends, who sees his chances of receiving visits diminished thanks to the zeal with which the protagonist of this very high-profile case is treated, who has still received a final sentence.

When the sentence becomes effective on August 2, Daniel Sancho, if sentenced to capital punishment or life imprisonment, He will be transferred to the dangerous Bang Kwang prison in Bangkok, where favorable treatment will disappear like a sugar cube recently introduced into the middle of the Indian Ocean, and where he will have to share a cell – these are indeed overcrowded and far from any hint of humanity – with really dangerous prisoners, many of them accused of murders and drug trafficking, and where the Diplomatic corps, which includes those from Spain, do not usually attend too much.

Daniel Sancho on the day of his arrest in Thailand
Daniel Sancho on the day of his arrest in ThailandSOMKEAT RUKSAMANEFE Agency

Accusations against the consul

As an anecdote, yesterday Daniel Sancho in the middle of the trial, he reproached the Spanish consul in Thailand, Ignacio Vitónica, for the use of the translator, which according to Sancho Gracia's grandson, was ineffective and it was his fault. Vitónica Hamilton is the consul of Spain in Bangkok, known among other things for not answering requests from reporters and when he does so it is through his secretary, and who during the first three days of this trial has ignored the reporters' questions – almost all compatriots – gathered at the door of a courtroom converted into a circus.