Thanks to a plea deal, six policemen facing years in prison for giving a man such a beating that he died, got off with a just suspended sentences.

But that’s not all; they have merely been suspended from their jobs for two years and then they will be police officers again and back out on the streets in uniform.

Juan Andrés Benítez, a businessman in Barcelona, was violently restrained by the six policemen outside a pub – even though half a dozen of them were kneeling on him, from images taken by a CCTV, you can quite clearly see a couple of the policemen kicking and punching the prostrate man.

All this happened back in October 2013 in the said city when the 50-year-old victim had been involved in a heated argument with a neighbour.

It was Juan Andrés (the victim) himself, who had phoned the police, but when they arrived – two patrol cars – he refused to give his ID and physically attacked one of the policemen, which was when they all wrestled him to the ground.

Fast forward to today and the six policemen, facing 11 years each in jail, recognized that they had kicked, punched and used their truncheons on the prone man during the twelve minutes that the struggle lasted.

The coroners report stated that the duration of the struggle and the blows received, caused the man to lose consciousness and to go into cardiac arrest. He died soon after in hospital.

Two other policemen were found guilty of erasing evidence from the crime scene – they were actually caught on camera cleaning up the blood stains. They also went round the neighbouring flats demanding that any footage be handed over.

So, in the end, the Public Prosecutor, the defence lawyer and the private prosecution lawyer reached a deal whereby the policemen would plead guilty to manslaughter and pay compensation to the victim’s family in exchange for a 2-year sentence, which is automatically a suspended sentence.

Editorial comment: all this would be, more or less, acceptable, as far as a court sentence goes, but it becomes a complete joke when these policemen are only suspended rather than thrown out of the police force, having demonstrated just how untrustworthy they are.

(News: Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain)