A Madrid court has sentenced 131 air traffic controllers from the Madrid-Barajas and Torrejón airports for a crime of abandoning public service, in the macrocause followed by the case of the closure of airspace in December 2010. The fines imposed range between 15,000 and 31,500 euros.

In addition, the accused are sentenced to pay to the injured parties, together with the public entity Enaire (formerly Aena) as subsidiary civil liable, just over 13 million euros.

Both the Prosecutor's Office and the private accusations demanded for some defendants that they also be imposed a temporary suspension of employment, which has not been agreed.

Two of the accused have been acquitted.

One of them, Cesar Cabo, considered the union leader who promoted the concerted action of the controllers, something that was not demonstrated in the trial according to the court.

For him, the Prosecutor's Office asked for a fine of 75,000 euros and a one-year suspension.

The magistrate of the Criminal Court 18 of Madrid has concluded that "on the bridge of December 2010 the air traffic controllers accused in these proceedings, adopted a labor pressure mechanism consisting of leaving their jobs en masse, paralyzing, of in this way, air traffic and this under the direction of the members of the Board of Directors and union delegates of the Usca union ".

"From the practice of said test," the sentence continues, "it is clear that the defendants agreed with the purpose of interrupting air traffic, and for this they cascaded a form alleging the decrease in psychophysical capacity that prevented them, for the sake of to guarantee air safety, to continue in their respective jobs, or they did not go to their jobs or if they did, they limited themselves to controlling the flights provided for in the Chicago Convention ".

"Likewise, it is clear from the statements of the witnesses that the controllers deployed labor pressure behavior towards AENA, and their objective consisted of paralyzing air traffic, an objective they achieved, on dates when there was going to be a lot of passenger movement Since it was the longest bridge of the year, the December 2010 bridge, when the Rate 0 was decreed, as could be heard in the recordings of the conversations held by the defendants. government, so that the Royal Decree that was finally published at 9:26 p.m. on December 3, 2010 was not approved. "

The judge has examined the recordings made on those dates and concludes that "they reveal the premeditated and organized nature of the union protest deployed by the accused."

"The actions of the accused not only affected the citizens who could not travel on the December 2010 bridge, but also had serious economic consequences for tourism in the community of Madrid, on one of the bridges of the year with the greatest influx of travelers in the city, although in the compensation chapter no amount is claimed for this concept, despite the fact that there were numerous cancellations of hotel reservations, derived from the action of the civil controllers. "

"That objective was sought by the defendants, to cause the maximum noise - continues the resolution - with said concerted action aimed at the paralysis of air traffic, to win the pulse that they threw at the government, by causing the maximum economic damage against the company and effective against the interests of citizens ", adds the sentence

Regarding the specific accusation against César Cabo, in the trial he denied having promoted, organized, or incited the collective abandonment of their jobs by civil air traffic controllers, since among other things he stated that he was in Asia.

Likewise, he denied having attended the assemblies called both in the Torrejón control center and in the Auditorium hotel, repeating that he was not part of the USCA executive committee, nor did he use his union hours on the December 2010 bridge, as he was vacation.

The magistrate shows her surprise after verifying that, "despite the monumental evidence practiced throughout so many months of the hearing, so little mention has been made of who, according to the accusations, was the main leader of the union protest. Not a question - says the sentence - was formulated to the different witnesses to prove the active and effective participation of the aforementioned defendant, in the facts prosecuted. Only at the end of the plenary, coinciding with the viewing of the programs broadcast on television, is when Once again, the accused appears as a spokesperson for the union, explaining the position of the civil controllers in the conflict they had with Aena and the Government, which occurred after the events brought to trial. "

"None of the accusations has shown that the accused agreed with the rest of the members of the executive committee of the USCA union to instigate the collective abandonment of the jobs by the controllers; nor was any mention made throughout the act of the trial, nor has any evidence been taken that involves the accused in the organization of the illegal union protest, "says the sentence, which can be appealed before the Provincial Court of Madrid.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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