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Avoiding the imprisonment for non-payment of debt

The past 7th of march of 2022 the Second Chamber of the Spanish Constitutional Court granted the appeal lodged by a person who was sentenced to 6 months of prison after the suspension of the penalty’s execution was revoked by the 12th Criminal Court of Madrid, without listening to him personally and previously to taking the decision, only because he did not pay the civil responsibility to which he was bound. On the first place, the sentence is based on the fact that article 86.4 of the Penal Code was not respected, as it states that the sentenced person must be listened in a contradictory hearing before taking the revoking decision, requisite that the European Court of Human Rights’ case law has largely repeated. Secondly, because the appealed judicial ruling is only based on the non-payment of the civil responsibility, without evaluating the real economic circumstances, and therefore, without considering the capacity of payment of the sentenced person.

We leave you below the link of the Constitutional Court’s briefing note number 17/2022 in case you want to read it.

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