Very light punishment for very serious crimes

In September 2017, ten members of the Guardia Civil (Civil Guards) were detained for cooperating with drug traffickers in Torrevieja, in the south of Alicante. In total, 19 persons were arrested: ten from the Guardia Civil and nine others charged in different phases of the operation which extended from Alicante, Valencia, Cádiz to Murcia. Another seven persons were investigated for belonging to the gang of drug-traffickers. The "Sakura Operation" dismantled three domestic, artisan laboratories dedicated to the production of cocaine. The Civil Guard seized 200 grams of cocaine as well as 25,000 euros in cash and a large amount of computer equipment. The ten were accused of a wide range of crimes ranging from extortion to bribery, falsification of documents and membership in a criminal organization.

The Spanish press reported that the Guardia Civil is a paramilitary branch of the Army, charged with providing information on the activities of civil society and participating in them. Given this control function, the Guardia Civil finds itself immersed in illegal networks which it says it is trying to combat. Consequently, one cannot really speak of corruption, one has to speak of the system; the manner in which these repressive, anti-democratic institutions relate to the economic world, both legally and illegally. When one says that the police controls illegal traffic, shady businesses, the black, grey and white market, it is not an exaggeration, it is literal. On a day to day basis legality and illegality are blurred into total confusion. By 2018, eight members of the Guardia Civil were still in detention and one of the agents was punished with three months' suspension of employment and salary, despite having been charged with seven serious crimes: belonging to a criminal group, breaching trust in the custody of documents, revealing secrets, omission of the duty to prosecute crimes, etc.

The member of the Guardia Civil who was punished challenged the three month suspension because he charged that it undermined his right to a presumption of innocence and in addition, the acts that were imputed to him "took place while he was not in service."

The judges of the Central Military Tribunal rejected the Guardia Civil's challenge and affirmed the punishment, which was based on the Guardia Civil's Disciplinary Code. The agent had "created a serious disturbance of civil security and a notorious harm to the service" and deserved the three month suspension, which was the most serious punishment available.