Prison without bail due to flight risk for the accused of setting fire to Mount Naranco in Oviedo

EUROPA PRESS / EL MUNDO

Updated Friday, February 9, 2024-14:50

The Prosecutor's Office of the Principality of Asturias has requested the entry into provisional prison with no bail of the man arrested yesterday Thursday for the fire that occurred in the early hours of March 31, 2023 on Mount Naranco in Oviedo. The accused, a man born in 1979, is also the alleged perpetrator of another fire that occurred that same day in the Asturian council of Andorcio, a crime for which he has also been brought to justice.

The Prosecutor's Office has requested the Investigative Court number 3 of Oviedo to provisionally detain the detainee because it considers that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that he is the material author of the fire. Likewise, the Prosecutor's Office has requested provisional detention, arguing that there is a risk of escape, given that the detainee faces very high penalties, and a possible repetition of the crime. The accused faces a crime of arson with danger to people's lives, regulated in article 351 of the Penal Code and punishable by penalties ranging between 10 and 20 years in prison.

The detained man voluntarily appeared at judicial offices yesterday, February 8, after having received a summons from the agents in charge of the investigation. The UDEV III group of the provincial Judicial Police brigade and Seprona have been the bodies in charge of this case, which has been conducted by the Investigative Court number 3 of Oviedo after the complaint filed by the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Principality of Asturias. The detainee took advantage of his right not to testify, both in police stations and in court.

The fire unleashed in Naranco destroyed the vegetation of the mountain from the mid-height to the top, which is crowned by the monument to the

Sacred Heart of Jesus

. In addition, the fire threatened several homes in the Oviedo neighborhood of Ciudad Naranco, which is located at the foot of the mountain and from which several people had to be evacuated. The fire left 99 hectares burned after almost twenty hours burning, from one in the morning to eight in the afternoon on March 31, 2023.

The fire on Mount Naranco affected 50% of eucalyptus trees, another 10% of trees of different species, and 40% of scrubland. The Llanera fire, whose authorship is also allegedly attributed to the detainee, burned approximately 8.6 hectares, 70% of wooded mass of different species and the remaining 30% of scrubland. The fire risk level that day in Oviedo was extreme: 5.