Fire drama in Mallorca about German cone brothers: mild punishment for 500,000 euros?
Created: 06/06/2022, 19:38
By: Tom Offinger
The roof of the "Why not Mallorca" bar was on fire.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Clara Margais
While some are allowed to leave custody on bail, eight members of the bowling club tremble at the impending punishment.
An order from the Spanish judiciary gives hope.
Palma/Munich - It's already one of the stories of 2022: On May 20, a fire broke out in a bar in the popular German holiday destination Arenal.
A group of 13 German vacationers who wanted to spend a long, fun weekend on the Balearic island with their bowling club from Münster are suspected.
The fire, which the cone brothers are said to have started from their hotel balconies on the bar's thatched roof, caused serious damage to two bars, an apartment and parts of an adjacent hotel.
Two people were slightly injured.
Arson in Mallorca: Four German cone brothers are allowed out of custody on bail
Currently, 12 of the 13 vacationers still have to remain in custody in Spain, the first vacationer was able to prove that he was taking a shower at the time of the crime.
As the
Mallorca Zeitung
reports, four more vacationers now have the chance to be released on bail.
Their rooms would not have faced the roof where the fire broke out, so they could safely leave confinement in vacation paradise.
The prerequisite for this is a payment of 12,000 euros per holidaymaker.
The remaining eight cone brothers will remain in custody.
A witness saw them partying on the balcony and throwing cigarette butts and alcohol on the roof of the destroyed "Why not Mallorca" bar.
The responsible judge Antoni Rotger had already rejected a chance for a possible release on bail last Thursday (June 2nd).
Arson in Mallorca: Does payment weaken the impending penalty?
In the worst case, they now face up to ten years in prison, but according to a report in the
Bild
newspaper, there is still a chance of having a mitigating effect on the outstanding verdict.
Accordingly, the court ordered a compensation payment of 500,000 euros (official legal term: "responsabilidad civil").
This sum is to be paid jointly and severally by all the accused for the damage allegedly caused, a Spanish justice spokeswoman said when asked by the newspaper.
An example from June 2021 shows that this measure could certainly mitigate an impending punishment: At that time, two Germans ran their boat over the wooden boat of an Italian couple on Lake Garda in Italy, killing them.
The driver finally turned himself in to the authorities, and the boat owner's liability insurance company transferred around 3.8 million euros to the survivors of the two victims before the trial began in November last year.
As a result of the payment, the penalty for the two Germans was significantly reduced.
The possible maximum sentence at the time was up to 15 years in prison.
(
to
)
