The sentencing of ex-Balearics president Jaume Matas and others in the first trial to do with the "caso Palma Arena" has resulted in Matas being given a six-year sentence.
Journalist Antonio Alemany has received a three-year and nine-month sentence; former government director of communication Joan Martorell has been condemned to a year and a half and head of PR company Nimbus, Miguel Romero, has received a sentence of one year, one month and 15 days.
Matas has been found guilty of abuse of public office, false accounting, fraud and misappropriation. The facts of this part of the Palma Arena case had to do with payments to businesses operated by the some-time journalist with the "El Mundo" newspaper, Antonio Alemany, which amounted to some half a million euros during Matas' period of office between 2003 and 2007.
The payments, described as totally unnecessary by prosecutors, were for articles that were favourable to the president and his government, while some other articles never actually appeared. In addition, Alemany, with government funds, was able to create a news website and news agency. This website is among those reporting the declarations by the court, one of which describes Alemany as "fiercely independent except when it comes to money and power".
Lawyers for Matas and Alemany have said that they will appeal against the sentences, while for the moment it is unclear whether they will enter prison immediately or not. The public prosecution had said that if the sentence for Matas was longer than five years that he should go straight inside, but it seems that no demand has been made on preventive grounds, i.e. that Matas might leave the country. As he has had his passport withdrawn anyway, this might seem unlikely. Ratification of the sentence by the Supreme Court could also delay any entrance into prison, and the delay could be as long as a year. Meantime, there will be other parts of the "caso Palma Arena" to be heard.
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