Football / Spain. Lucas Hernandez will he go to jail, and for how long?

Will Lucas Hernandez go through prison in Spain, like his teammate Benjamin Mendy in Great Britain? At 25, the French international defender of Bayern Munich is summoned this Tuesday before the court in Madrid (Spain) for not having respected a removal measure imposed after a fight with his partner Amelia de la Osa Lorente in 2017. Since then, both got married and had a child.

Bayernn have confirmed that the player intends to attend this summons: « He’s going, he will be heard, then we’ll see, » said German club president Herbert Hainer. When asked if the club supports Hernandez, Hainer replied: « Yes, of course. »

What’s going to happen ?

Lucas Hernandez will have, after this hearing, 10 days to enter prison himself, in the penitentiary center of his choice. If necessary, an international arrest warrant could be issued against him. In addition, he will be subject to a ban on leaving the country. But, according to the Madrid court, the former Atlético Madrid defender has already appealed the decision and could avoid jail if his appeal is accepted. In Spain, prison sentences of less than two years are generally not applied, except in the case of a repeat offense, in which case incarceration is required even if the sentence is very short.

« In accordance with the current regulatory framework, in matters of criminal execution, once the courts have refused an alternative measure to imprisonment, the convicted person is placed in detention and, if the appeal is upheld, he is released », specifies the Spanish daily As, which revealed the case. However, a judicial source told the newspaper The team : « For the moment, he is more likely to go to prison than not to go », because the Spanish justice did not appreciate at all the fact that Hernandez openly mocks the sentence she had pronounced .

What are the charges?

In February 2017, while Lucas Hernandez was playing at Atlético Madrid, the footballer and his companion were sentenced simultaneously to 31 days of community service and six months of mutual distancing (at least 500m from one of the other) for acts of domestic violence. However, Lucas Hernandez and his companion Amelia de la Osa Lorente had not respected this removal order and had gone to Miami for their honeymoon, after getting married in Las Vegas. On their return, the footballer was arrested at Madrid airport. On the other hand, his partner had been left free because the removal order had not yet been officially notified to her at that time. So she was not at fault.

Faced with this violation of the restrictive injunction, a one-year prison sentence was requested by the Madrid prosecutor’s office in January 2018 against the Bayern Munich player. In December 2019, the court finally sentenced the French world champion to six months in prison. A spokesperson for Madrid’s higher regional court defended the committal order in an interview with German newspaper Bild on Friday: “There are two convictions for domestic violence and also a third for breach of sentence. a very serious offense, « Luis Sala told German newspaper Bild. The judge of the 32nd Criminal Chamber could only « apply the law ».