Daniel Sancho, the Spaniard sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand for the premeditated murder of Colombian Edwin Arrieta, was transferred this Friday from Samui prison, where he had been since he was arrested for the crime just over a year ago, to the Surat Thani prison, located on the mainland, about 100 kilometers from the island, according to several sources. The prisoner himself had indicated to Efe hours earlier that the transfer would take place “immediately.”
To carry out this journey, the prisoner made a first trip in an armoured van, a boat trip of about two and a half hours and the third trip in an armoured vehicle to the penitentiary centre. The Surat Thani prison is in the province of the same name, about 15 kilometres from the capital and more than 600 kilometres south of Bangkok. Its facilities, inaugurated at the beginning of 2023, are located in an unpopulated area surrounded by fields of crops.
After hearing the verdict, Sancho asked on Thursday to remain in the prison on the island of Samui, considered “friendly” in Thailand, but this request could not be granted because this centre houses inmates who are awaiting trial or with sentences of less than 15 years. The Surat Thani centre, on the other hand, includes prisoners sentenced to from 15 years in prison up to the death penalty, according to its website.
Once an inmate has been sentenced and until it is final, the Thai prison system considers him a “preventive prisoner”, according to the legal team in charge of Sancho’s defence, made up of the law firm Balfagón & Chippirrás and the law firm of Marcos García-Montes. Javier Casado, director of the +34 foundation, in charge of assisting Spanish prisoners abroad, explains that inmates classified as preventive prisoners in Thailand have “better living conditions” because they occupy different modules, with better characteristics, and they are also exposed to fewer risks in living with other inmates for whom the prison sentence is final.
Thai authorities were using two prisons to hold Sancho – Surat Thani, about 100 kilometres from the current one, and Nakhon Si Thammarat, 168 kilometres away – both in the same area. Surat Thani was ultimately chosen because Nakhon Si Thammarat did not have the capacity to accommodate him, according to defence sources.
The Surat Thani prison – with facilities “a little more modern” than the other one considered, according to the defence – is ten times more crowded than the Samui prison. It has 4,730 male and 626 female prisoners, according to figures from the Department of Corrections. Several organisations consider it overcrowded.
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Sancho was visited by his father in Samui prison on Friday and was able to meet with the Spanish legal team advising him in the proceedings. His parents accompanied him yesterday to the hearing where the judge read out the sentence condemning him to life imprisonment and he was then taken back to the penitentiary.
The defence has announced that it will appeal, although they are still waiting to be notified of the sentence, which will have to be translated. The official deadline is one month, but an extension can be requested if necessary. Sancho, who initially confessed to the crime and helped in the reconstruction, maintains that Arrieta died accidentally during a fight in which he was trying to repel a sexual assault by the deceased. The court has found him guilty of premeditated murder, as maintained by the prosecution and the police investigation, and of the crime of hiding the corpse and destroying the passport of the deceased.
