AS report that the 32nd Criminal Court in Madrid has ordered the imprisonment of French international and Bayern Munich defender Lucas Hernandez.
In a formal notice issued on September 14th, the court wrote: “Mr. Lucas François Bernard Hernández is summoned to appear in this Court on October 19, 2021, at 11:00 a.m., in order to be personally required to enter prison voluntarily within ten days, in the penitentiary centre of his choosing.”
The matter dates back to February 3rd 2010 when Hernandez, then of Atletico Madrid, and his wife, Amelia de la Osa Lorente, had an altercation in the middle of the street. The Madrid court subsequently in 2017 sentenced both to 31 days of community service and prevented them from approaching or communicating with each other by any means for 6 months, commonly known as a restraining order.
Both ignored this, and went on a honeymoon. On their way back from the honeymoon, authorities stumbled upon this reality after they landed at Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport following a flight from Miami.
Lucas was arrested and placed at the disposal of the 3rd Court of Violence Against Women in Madrid, who later released him. Amelia was identified but not detained, as the court had not yet notified her of her restraining order, contrary to Lucas.
The Prosecutor’s Office subsequently requested a year in prison for Lucas upon understanding that he had violated his restraining order – the 35th Criminal Court in Madrid sentenced Lucas to 1 year in prison. Lucas’s lawyers asked for the sentence to be replaced with community service, but the appeal was denied as Lucas had already breached the 31 days of community service imposed upon him in the initial sentence.
Lucas is being requested to submit himself to prison not because of the altercation with his current wife, but because he disobeyed an order given by a judge.
Lucas’ defence has filed an appeal against the sentence and the Provincial Court will consider it. Either way, Lucas must personally be in Madrid on October 19th so that, within 10 days, he can select which penitentiary centre to enter.
As this case has already been finalised, no postponement can be requested, but it is possible that the Court will consider the appeal and decide whether or not Lucas should enter prison before he is due to or see him enter prison only for him to be released after several days.
To all this, Bayern Munich still claimed yesterday, October 13th, not to have knowledge of this case, although the player was notified on September 14th, a month before.