The authorities of Cuba They have arrested in Havana Martino Ramos Sotothe professor whose conviction for abuse and rape of a minor had been in force since July after being ratified by the Spanish Justice. According to the agency EFEthe location and arrest of the fugitive, who received a sentence of 13 and a half years in prison, had become a priority for the Fugitive Section of the Spanish National Police.
Ramos Soto was listed among the ten most searched people for Spanish justice; Therefore, this Monday, just a few hours before his arrest, the authorities intensified the call for citizen collaboration to obtain data that would lead to his capture. In this way, the arrest has occurred after several months of transatlantic search, thanks in part to the creation of an Instagram account twelve days before the final sentence handed down in Ourense.
Apparently, the Spanish authorities detected that a user had opened a new account on Instagram with the name “Martín Soto”, from Cuba. The most striking thing was the profile photo, because, according to The Country, the fugitive would have used a quite recognizable image. Since the court ruling, this account has been practically active. From the photos to which the police have had access, the suspect could be seen working as a photographer in various art galleries and model shows on the Caribbean island.
The aforementioned Instagram account registers more than fifty publicationsthe first of which dates from July 13, almost two weeks before the Supreme Court ruling. The factor that initially made it difficult to locate him was his decision to use his Spanish first name and his middle surname. Even so, according to sources from the Government Delegation in Galicia, the Spanish police had been analyzing for months the digital clues that indicated the presence of Ramos Soto in Havana. One of this evidence is a publication dated November 14, where an assistant tagged him in an exhibition at the Habana Espacios Creativos cultural center.
Despite the seriousness of the events and the previous rulings issued by the Provincial Court of Ourense and the Superior Court of Xustiza of Galicia, no preventive precautionary measures were imposed in his case. Thus, during the four years that the investigation opened after the complaint lasted, The Prosecutor’s Office never requested that he be placed in provisional prison, which is why Ramos Soto was free when the final sentence was handed down. Thus, when the police tried to locate him to proceed to his imprisonment, his whereabouts were already unknown.
Martiño Ramos Soto’s escape took shape after hearing the decision of the Supreme Court, which in July confirmed a 13-year prison sentence. The legal process revealed that the victim, a student who I taught music classes from the age of threewas contacted by the fugitive through Instagram, where he posed as a minor. After the trial, the sentence confirmed that the man had committed physical and sexual assaults continuously for two years.
The capture of the former professor adds to the recent international cooperation operations between the Spanish and Cuban authorities regarding the extradition of fugitives wanted for serious crimes. In this way, the Fugitive Section of the Spanish National Police maintains other priority cases open and continues to request citizen collaboration to advance in locating people wanted by Spanish justice.
