Lanzarote could well serve to illustrate two instincts rooted in the human being with regard to the nature: to preserve and destroy it. The wanted to preserve Cesar Manrique, the artist who died in 1992, which sowed in lanzarote the desire to respect the territory in full development of tourism. The wanted to destroy Juan Francisco Rosa, the entrepreneur is the most influential of the island, who built a huge wine cellar, Stratvs, in the protected area of La Geria, in the municipality of Yaiza. This week has begun the trial against him and nine others in “the worst attack on environmental” of the island, according to the words of the Prosecutor’s office.
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photo gallery in A controversial winery 16 defendants in “the worst attack” environmental in Lanzarote since 1993
the defenses of the defendants argue that the offences have been prescribed, considering that the start of the legal proceedings, and in 2013, was more than five years after they started the works. For Rosa, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in real estate and tourism of Lanzarote, the owner of the group of communication Lancelot, the Prosecution requests 15 years in prison and a fine of 267,000 euros for various crimes related to the assault on the territory and with the falsehood of an official document. For the architect, Miguel Angel Weapons Matallana, asks for 10 years of prison and 72,000 euros.
The winery was opened in 2008, but five years after it was sealed. And so continues. The project began to take shape in 1998 in La Geria is a protected space. What would be the rehabilitation of a housing of 171 square meters and the construction of an underground cellar for 900 it became a complex of 12,000 square meters with an industrial warehouse, a restaurant, a shop, paved terraces, kitchen and car parking.
The Prosecutor’s office calls for “the demolition of all improperly constructed” and “the replacement land to the way that more resembles its original state, to be the damage caused irreversible, to the detriment of the accused.” So that all this could be done, it took responsible to give the required licences. In 2018, the exalcaldesa Gladys Acuña was sentenced for trespass and offense against the ordination of the territory at 14-year ban, on a separate piece of the case that was tried by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary islands. He was also convicted another former mayor, José Francisco Reyes, a seven-year ban. And, Vicente, Jesus Bartolome, former secretary city, to 14.
Reyes returns to the bench this time with a request of seven years in prison. But the Prosecutor’s office accuses also to seven other people, including technical positions and politicians on the municipal, insular and autonomous. This Wednesday declared seven of the ten defendants, but did not do so Juan Francisco Rosa, who will do this Thursday. The three technicians of the regional Administration argued to have authorized the project to consider it viable legally, and at no point believed to be in breach of the law. The architect of the work, Miguel Angel Armas, who claimed to have disengaged from the winery in 2005 because the Rose “wanted to do a work very large”, he acknowledged that he had built “a bit more than what is authorized”. The former mayor Reyes stated that he did not know well why he was there. “I do not know what I am accused,” he said. “I imagine that it will be by the license works, but as I am neither a technician nor a lawyer, I leave it in the hands of his lordship the decision”.
Among the arguments of some defenses, including the attorney who represents the officers, is that you can’t consider La Geria is a protected area since 1990, because, in that time, I made a plan of management required which is then also filled the plan insular council (Cabildo). The lawyer of the popular accusation, however, stated that The Geria is a protected area by the EU to be included in the Natura 2000 Network. The trial will last until April and will be held between Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
