The private accusation made by the parents of Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez told ABC it would toughen its indictment in the investigation into the deaths of two soldiers during the lake crossing test at the base of Hill … Muriano on December 21, 2023. This was declared to ABC by the family’s lawyer, Francisco José Pérez Romero, who considers that the classification of the prosecution of the central military court is “insufficient” and “incomplete”.
According to what this lawyer declared, the Prosecutor’s document “presents an insufficient accusation, without covering the aspects of our indictment. we will face more harshly.” In this sense, the private prosecution will request prison sentences against the commander and the lieutenant colonel who have not been accused by the public prosecutor.
In addition, the legal representation of Corporal Jiménez’s parents will include the crime of attempted murder regarding the soldiers who had to be rescued from the water “on the verge of losing their lives”, some of whom required urgent medical attention, as the Civil Guard report indicates. For this part, the conclusions of the public prosecutor are “clearly insufficient and incomplete”.
The private prosecution also disagrees with the civil liability established by the prosecution. Pérez Romero criticized the scarcity of compensation provided for the families of deceased soldiers: “A person’s life is not worth 200,000 euros“he pointed out. According to him, the chain of command “must ensure care and duty for the benefit of the activities carried out” and guarantee compliance with safety rules. “If they have not ensured compliance with security and prevention parameters, they must be held accountable,” he insisted.
Faced with this position, other parties involved in the procedure, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed to ABC their agreement with the decision of the Military prosecutor’s office not to accuse the commanders above Captain Zúñiga and Lieutenant Tato. According to these sources, in one of the statements of the main accused, it was already noted that he considered that the higher command “had no responsibility in this matter.”
On the same side, another of the appearing parties pointed out that the sentence requested by the Prosecutor’s Office for each offense against the efficiency of the service is proposed at its maximum level, that is to say four years, but the range varies from 1 to 4 years for each of the offenses.
Eight years for Captain Zúñiga and five for Lieutenant
In his indictment, put forward by ABC, the prosecutor of the Central Military Court requested eight years in prison against Captain Zúñiga, accused of two crimes against service efficiency for the death of Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Private Carlos Rubio during maneuvers carried out in Cerro Muriano, while the soldiers were crossing an artificial lake.
The prosecutor maintains that the captain did not inform his superiors of the progress of the exercise and that he acted “according to personal and improvised criteria”. The document states that it was not specified that the maneuver was intended to practice buoyancy, nor was the route or mode of execution of the so-called river crossing clearly explained.
Participation in command
Likewise, the Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Lieutenant Tato of the same crimes against efficiency in the service, characterized by article 77.1 of the Military Penal Code, and requests five years in prison for him (two years and six months for each crime), considering proven his material and direct participation in the maneuvers that caused the death of soldier Carlos León and Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez.
The military prosecutor’s office excludes any criminal responsibility for the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Zanfaño and Commander Velasco and focuses the accusation directly on the commanders. involved in planning and execution of the exercise. In terms of civil liability, she asks the Ministry of Defense to compensate the families of the two deceased soldiers to the tune of nearly 422,000 euros.
According to the prosecutor, the main responsibility lies with Captain Zúñiga, knowing that “he never informed his superiors of how the maneuver was going to take place” and that he decided that the soldiers would swim across the lake to avoid doing it on foot. He Public Ministry concludes that he acted on the basis of his organic unity and circular 305/23, but “without communicating the risks or the real conditions of the exercise to the chain of command”.
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