Lawyer Dr. jur. Jesús Becerra is the first address for criminal law matters in Spain.
Are you the defendant or the victim in a criminal investigation in Spain? We have the expertise and experience to assist you both in and out of court. Among others, we can help you with:
Important: If you are accused of a crime, exercise your right to remain silent and contact us immediately. We will review your case file and protect your rights of defence.
Leave nothing to chance and avoid costly mistakes: With our help, you will get the best defence. Just call us!
If you are accused of a crime in Spain, do not comment on the accusation!
Contact me without obligation - either by phone or via the contact form.
Tell me about your case. Together we will find the best strategy and solution for your case.
Dr. jur. Jesús Becerra is one of Spain’s most renowned criminal lawyers. As a lawyer, he pursued a career in criminal law and obtained his doctorate in this field. Dr Becerra is also a professor of criminal law at the University of Pompeu Fabra.
Dr. Becerra regularly represents English-speaking clients throughout Spain and has a track record of achieving excellent results for his clients. His years of experience enable him to spot procedural errors immediately and develop skilful defence strategies that lead to success. His expertise in criminal law allows Dr. jur. Becerra to provide personalised and close attention to his clients, their wishes and objectives, and to consistently defend their interests.
Your Spanish criminal law expert
In Barcelona & Mallorca
When a person is charged with a criminal offence, he or she is presumed innocent until proven guilty. In such a situation, it is essential to have a competent and experienced criminal defence lawyer who can influence the preliminary proceedings and the further development of the case at an early stage.
Avoid mistakes that could have far-reaching consequences. Dr Jesús Becerra and his team analyse each case individually and work with the client to find the best possible solution and strategy. With maximum commitment, in-depth knowledge and years of experience, we are able to provide you with the best possible criminal law defence.
We are just a phone call away.
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Pre-trial detention is the most severe precautionary measure provided in the Spanish legal system, involving the deprivation of the accused’s liberty during all or part of the criminal proceedings. Article 502 of the Spanish Code of Criminal Procedure establishes that pre-trial detention is an exceptional measure that may only be used when it is absolutely necessary and when there is no possibility of imposing precautionary measures on the accused with less serious effects on his right to liberty. According to Article 503 of the Spanish Code of Criminal Procedure, pre-trial detention may only be granted if the following conditions are met.
If there is a strong presumption that the accused has committed an offence punishable by a custodial sentence of at least two years. By exception, remand is also permissible in cases where it is presumed that the accused has committed offences punishable by a lesser penalty, if he or she has a criminal record that has not been expunged as a result of a conviction for an intentional offence.
Similarly, there must be a reasonable suspicion that the accused might abscond, since the purpose of remand is to ensure his or her presence at the trial. In order to assess whether there is a risk of absconding, the nature of the offence, the severity of the sentence to be imposed and the family, professional and economic situation of the accused person are normally taken into account. For example, if the accused is a foreigner who does not reside on Spanish territory, the judge may conclude that there is a risk of absconding. This circumstance has been relativised in recent years in relation to citizens of EU Member States, as it is generally assumed that the accused would be available to the Spanish authorities under mechanisms of mutual judicial cooperation between EU Member States (such as the European Arrest Warrant).
Pre-trial detention may also be ordered if there is a reason to believe that the accused may alter, conceal or destroy evidence necessary for his or her prosecution, or if there is reasonable fear for the life, physical integrity or other legal interests of the victim.
Pre-trial detention is ordered by the judge (in most cases, the investigating judge in charge of the investigation in Spanish criminal proceedings) after a hearing, which must take place as soon as possible (within a maximum of 72 hours from the time of arrest) once the accused person has been arrested. At this hearing, the public prosecutor must request the remand in the presence of the accused person and his or her defence lawyer. The defence lawyer will have the opportunity to argue for the (provisional) release of the accused or for the application of a less drastic measure. A few hours later, a court order is usually issued, stating the reasons and grounds on which the judge considers that the suspect should be remanded. This decision can be reviewed at any stage of the proceedings, at the request of the defence lawyer, and can be overturned or replaced by the judge who issued it, or by the next higher instance, at the request of the defence, through the appropriate remedies (recurso de reforma and recurso de apelación).
Exceptionally and under certain circumstances, pre-trial detention may last up to four years. However, the particularities and limits set out below must be observed:
There are several maximum limits for pre-trial detention, the purpose of which is to ensure the presence of the person under investigation in order to prevent him or her from harming the victim and/or from repeating the offence:
One (1) year if the offence under investigation is punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three (3) years. This maximum period may be extended by a further six (6) months if there are circumstances indicating that the duration of the proceedings would exceed one (1) year.
Two (2) years if the offence under investigation is punishable by a custodial sentence of more than three (3) years. As in the previous case, this maximum limit may be extended, this time by up to two (2) additional years, if circumstances arise in the course of the proceedings which make it foreseeable that the duration of the proceedings will exceed two (2) years//for them to exceed two (2) years.
If the accused is sentenced to imprisonment and he or she is in pre-trial detention at the time of sentencing, the pre-trial detention may be extended up to half of the sentence imposed in the conviction, provided that an appropriate appeal has been lodged.
If pre-trial detention has been ordered to prevent embezzlement or falsification of evidence, it may not exceed six (6) months, without the possibility of extension.
Yes, as mentioned above, there are far less burdensome measures which, according to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, should be the first option applied by the authorities responsible for the administration of justice.
The most commonly used alternative measures are the following
As part of the increasingly close judicial cooperation between the Member States of the European Union, European legislation (implemented in Spain by Law 23/2014, of 20 November) provides for the possibility of measures restricting liberty, which are an alternative to pre-trial detention, being served on the territory of another State of the European Union.
The basic condition for initiating this procedure, according to art. 112 of the same law, is that the accused person has his or her habitual residence in the State where these measures are to be enforced.
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Law firm Jesús Becerra
Provença 278, 1º bis – 1ª
08008, Barcelona, España
Dr. jur. Jesús Becerra
Specialist lawyer for criminal law
Doctor of law
Provença 278, 1º bis – 1ª
08008, Barcelona
Spain
Telefon: (+34) 931 845 980
Telefon: (+34) 689 399 034
E-mail: jb@jesusbecerra.com
Jesús Becerra
Jesús Becerra is admitted to the Spanish Bar.
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Any liability in connection with the use of the information is excluded. The information on this website does not constitute legal advice.
The following notices provide a simple overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit this website. Personal data is any data by which you can be personally identified. For detailed information on the subject of data protection, please refer to our privacy policy listed below this text.
Data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. You can find the contact details of the website operator in the section “Information on the data controller” in this data protection declaration.
On the one hand, your data is collected when you provide it to us. This may be data that you enter in a contact form, for example.
Other data is collected automatically or with your consent by our IT systems when you visit the website. This is mainly technical data (e.g. internet browser, operating system or time of page view). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter this website.
Part of the data is collected to ensure error-free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyse your user behaviour.
You have the right at any time to receive information free of charge about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data. You also have a right to request the correction or deletion of this data. If you have given your consent to data processing, you can revoke this consent at any time for the future. You also have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data under certain circumstances. Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.
You can contact us at any time about this and other questions on the subject of data protection.
We host our website with Dogado. The provider is dogado GmbH, Antonio-Segni-Str. 11, 44263 Dortmund, Germany) (hereinafter referred to as Dogado). When you visit our website, Dogado collects various log files including your IP addresses.
For details, please refer to Dogado’s privacy policy: https://www.dogado.de/legal/datenschutz.
The use of Dogado is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. We have a legitimate interest in ensuring that our website is presented as reliably as possible. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user’s terminal device (e.g. for device fingerprinting) as defined by the TTDSG. The consent can be revoked at any time.
The operators of this site take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the legal data protection regulations and this data protection declaration.
When you use this website, certain personal data is collected. Personal information is information that can be used to identify you personally. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect and how we use it. It also explains how and for what purpose we do this.
Please note that data transmission over the Internet (e.g. when communicating by e-mail) may not be secure. It is not possible to completely protect data from access by third parties.
Provença 278, 1º bis – 1ª
08008, Barcelona
Spain
Telefon: (+34) 931 845 980
Telefon: (+34) 689 399 034
E-mail: jb@jesusbecerra.com
Unless a more specific storage period has been specified within this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for processing the data no longer applies. If you assert a justified request for deletion or revoke consent to data processing, your data will be deleted unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g. retention periods under tax or commercial law); in the latter case, the data will be deleted after these reasons no longer apply.
If you have consented to data processing, we process your personal data on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO or Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a DSGVO if special categories of data are processed according to Art. 9 para. 1 DSGVO. In the event of express consent to the transfer of personal data to third countries, data processing is also carried out on the basis of Art. 49 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO. If you have consented to the storage of cookies or to the access to information in your terminal device (e.g. via device fingerprinting), the data processing is additionally carried out on the basis of Section 25 (1) TTDSG. This consent can be revoked at any time. If your data is required for the performance of a contract or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, we process your data on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO. Furthermore, if your data is required for the fulfilment of a legal obligation, we process it on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c DSGVO. Furthermore, the data processing may be carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. Information on the relevant legal basis in each individual case is provided in the following paragraphs of this data protection declaration.
Among other things, we use tools from companies based in the USA or other third countries that are not secure under data protection law. If these tools are active, your personal data may be transferred to these third countries and processed there. We would like to point out that no level of data protection comparable to that in the EU can be guaranteed in these countries. For example, US companies are obliged to hand over personal data to security authorities without you as a data subject being able to take legal action against this. It can therefore not be ruled out that US authorities (e.g. intelligence services) process, evaluate and permanently store your data located on US servers for monitoring purposes. We have no influence on these processing activities.
Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke consent you have already given at any time. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.
In the event of breaches of the GDPR, data subjects shall have a right of appeal to a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of their habitual residence, their place of work or the place of the alleged breach. The right of appeal is without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy.
You have the right to have data that we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will only be done insofar as it is technically feasible.
For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as the site operator, this site uses SSL or TLS encryption. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock symbol in your browser line.
If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.
Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipient and the purpose of the data processing and, if applicable, a right to correction or deletion of this data. You can contact us at any time for this purpose and for further questions on the subject of personal data.
You have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data. To do this, you can contact us at any time. The right to restriction of processing exists in the following cases:
If you dispute the accuracy of your personal data stored by us, we usually need time to check this. For the duration of the review, you have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data.
If the processing of your personal data happened/is happening unlawfully, you can request the restriction of data processing instead of erasure.
If we no longer need your personal data, but you need it to exercise, defend or assert legal claims, you have the right to request restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of erasure.
If you have lodged an objection pursuant to Art. 21 (1) DSGVO, a balancing of your and our interests must be carried out. As long as it has not yet been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data.
If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, this data may – apart from being stored – only be processed with your consent or for the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of an important public interest of the European Union or a Member State.
Our internet pages use so-called “cookies”. Cookies are small text files and do not cause any damage to your terminal device. They are stored either temporarily for the duration of a session (session cookies) or permanently (permanent cookies) on your end device. Session cookies are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Permanent cookies remain stored on your end device until you delete them yourself or until they are automatically deleted by your web browser.
In some cases, cookies from third-party companies may also be stored on your terminal device when you enter our site (third-party cookies). These enable us or you to use certain services of the third-party company (e.g. cookies for processing payment services).
Cookies have various functions. Many cookies are technically necessary, as certain website functions would not work without them (e.g. the shopping cart function or the display of videos). Other cookies are used to evaluate user behaviour or to display advertising.
Cookies that are necessary to carry out the electronic communication process, to provide certain functions requested by you (e.g. for the shopping cart function) or to optimise the website (e.g. cookies to measure the web audience) (necessary cookies) are stored on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO, unless another legal basis is specified. The website operator has a legitimate interest in storing necessary cookies for the technically error-free and optimised provision of its services. If consent to the storage of cookies and comparable recognition technologies has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of this consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG); the consent can be revoked at any time.
You can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, exclude the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or in general and activate the automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If you deactivate cookies, the functionality of this website may be limited.
Insofar as cookies are used by third-party companies or for analysis purposes, we will inform you separately about this within the framework of this data protection declaration and, if necessary, request your consent.
If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact details you provide there, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the enquiry and in the event of follow-up questions. We do not pass on this data without your consent.
The processing of this data is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. b DSGVO if your request is related to the performance of a contract or is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on our legitimate interest in the effective handling of enquiries addressed to us (Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO) or on your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO) if this has been requested; consent can be revoked at any time.
The data you enter in the contact form will remain with us until you request us to delete it, revoke your consent to store it or the purpose for storing the data no longer applies (e.g. after we have completed processing your enquiry). Mandatory legal provisions – in particular retention periods – remain unaffected.
If you contact us by e-mail, telephone or fax, your enquiry including all resulting personal data (name, enquiry) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass on this data without your consent.
The processing of this data is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. b DSGVO if your request is related to the performance of a contract or is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on our legitimate interest in the effective processing of enquiries addressed to us (Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO) or on your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO) if this has been requested; consent can be revoked at any time.
The data you send us via contact requests will remain with us until you request us to delete it, revoke your consent to store it or the purpose for storing the data no longer applies (e.g. after your request has been processed). Mandatory legal provisions – in particular legal retention periods – remain unaffected.
Our website uses the call tracking services of matelso GmbH, Heilbronner Str. 150, 70191 Stuttgart (hereinafter Matelso). When you call a number switched for us by Matelso, incoming calls are forwarded to an assigned destination number. Information on the date, time, duration of the call and call number is stored and made available to us. The content of the call is not recorded. The relevant information is processed by Matelso in accordance with our instructions and stored on servers in the EU.
The processing of this data is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. b DSGVO, insofar as your request is related to the performance of a contract or is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on our legitimate interest in the effective handling of the enquiries addressed to us (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) or on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO) if this has been requested; the consent can be revoked at any time.
The data collection associated with call tracking can be prevented by calling the telephone number stored in the imprint. In addition, the collection of the call number can be prevented by calling anonymously with a “suppressed number”.
More information on the handling of user data and data protection at Matelso can be found at: https://www.matelso.com/datenschutz/ and https://www.matelso.de/privacy/.
This site uses Font Awesome for the uniform display of fonts. Font Awesome is installed locally. A connection to servers of Fonticons, Inc. does not take place.
For more information about Font Awesome, please see the Font Awesome privacy policy at: https://fontawesome.com/privacy.
We embed the map material from OpenStreetMap on the server of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is considered a secure third country under data protection law. This means that the United Kingdom has a level of data protection that is equivalent to the level of data protection in the European Union. When using the OpenStreetMap maps, a connection is established to the servers of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. In the process, your IP address and other information about your behaviour on this website may be forwarded to the OSMF, among other things. OpenStreetMap may store cookies in your browser or use similar recognition technologies for this purpose. The use of OpenStreetMap is in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers and an easy location of the places indicated by us on the website. This represents a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. Insofar as a corresponding consent has been requested, processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user’s terminal device (e.g. device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. Consent can be revoked at any time. More information on the handling of user data can be found on the OpenStreetMap data protection page and here wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ.
This website uses Geoapify (Geoapify GmbH, Bgm.-Heinrich-Str. 6, 86415 Mering,
Germany) for the display of interactive maps. Geoapify’s services are hosted in EU data centres in accordance with the GDPR. By using them, information including your IP address may be transmitted to Geoapify. More information on the handling of user data can be found in Geoapify’s privacy policy at https://www.geoapify.com/privacy-policy.
We have integrated iThemes Security on this website. The provider is iThemes Media LLC, 1720 South Kelly Avenue Edmond, OK 73013, USA (hereinafter “iThemes Security”).
iThemes Security serves to protect our website from unwanted access or malicious cyberattacks. For this purpose, iThemes Security collects, among other things, your IP address, time and source of login attempts and log data (e.g. the browser used). iThemes Security is installed locally on our servers.
The use of iThemes Security is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting its website as effectively as possible against cyberattacks. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user’s terminal device (e.g. device fingerprinting) as defined by the TTDSG. The consent can be revoked at any time.