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Eugenio Cabezas
Nerja
Wednesday, 5 February 2025, 18:32
Mayor of Nerja José Alberto Armijo has been acquitted for a second time in the case of the Río de la Miel illegal landfill site near the eastern Costa del Sol town. Malaga's criminal court has rejected an appeal by the environmental public prosecutor's office, which the latter does not intend to appeal again.
The sentence follows the decision of the provincial court, which last October ordered a new ruling. This time the city's criminal court assessed the evidence "in a sufficient and reasoned manner without the need to hold a new trial". The councillor was initially acquitted in April 2023 after the first hearing which took place in 2022 was appealed by the public prosecutor.
The judge again considered that no environmental crime had been committed for the dumping of more than 800,000 cubic metres of construction and organic waste in an old quarry to the east of Nerja town centre, in the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama mountain range, which is recognised as a natural park.
In a message posted on social media, Armijo said, "This new ruling confirms once again what I have been defending since 2017. Neither my political conduct nor the behaviour of the business leaders were worthy of any criminal reproach."
Sources from the environmental prosecutor's office in Malaga explained that the court assessed the Infoca fire report on the fire danger of the old landfill site, but considered that in all the time it was operational, between 1998 and 2016, there was no accident.
The environment public prosecutor's sources consulted said that despite disagreeing with this new acquittal they do not plan, in principle, and pending a more detailed analysis, to appeal it again, although it is legally possible. The public prosecutor had asked for the mayor of Nerja to be sentenced to two years in prison and given an 18-month ban from public office for an alleged crime against the environment and natural resources.
The landfill operated for 18 years between 1998 and 2016 in a former aggregate quarry located in the Río de la Miel area in the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama natural park, where 802,000 cubic metres of construction waste and plant debris were dumped. The landfill was restored by the Junta de Andalucía with 1.6 million euros of European funds which was completed in June 2022.
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