Jaime Giménez Arbe
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| Jaime Giménez Arbe | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 12, 1956 Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain |
| Other names | El Solitario (The Loner) |
| Criminal penalty | 47 years imprisonment[1] |
| Conviction(s) | Homicide (two counts) |
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Jaime Giménez Arbe (also spelt Jiménez by the press, though the correct spelling is Giménez, as he wrote it in a letter[2] signed by himself and showed to the journalists' cameras by his lawyer Mariano Trillo-Figueroa) (Madrid, 12 January 1956) is the identity behind the Spanish anarchist and bank robber known as El Solitario ("The Loner").
He is charged with more than thirty armed robberies, in banks all over Spain, as well as with the murder of two Civil Guards in Castejón (Navarra).[3] In addition, in Vall de Uxó (Castellón), during a shooting with El Solitario, one policeman died due to a stray bullet from another policeman. .[4]
He was in prison in the United Kingdom because of drug trafficking, and eight minor trials in Spain had yet to take place. He speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
Jaime Giménez Arbe’s detention
He was arrested on 23 July 2007, in Figueira da Foz (Portugal) as part of the Operation Gloria. A large number of police officers, both Spanish (National Police Officer and Civil Guards from the Central Operational Unit) and Portuguese (Judiciary Police) were there to arrest him while he was, presumably, about to rob the “Caixa Agrícola” Bank,[5] located in Saraiva de Carvalho Street, near the market and the famous Figueira Casino. He was imputed with the murder of two Civil Guards, who he shot after they asked him to identify himself.
When he was arrested, he was disguised with false beard, mustache and wig and, as always, he wore his bulletproof vest and carried three guns: two short ones and an automatic one. The unprecedented police presence in charge of his search ended a decade of crimes that made him one of the most wanted criminals in Spanish criminal history. In his usual dwelling, and also in a warehouse of his own, large amounts of guns and ammunition were found, as well as disguising props.[6]
He was taken to Coimbra, where he was to make a statement before a judge. At the court door, before the many curious people and the media, he shouted "Hola a todos, soy El Solitario. ¡Salud españoles!" ("Hi, everyone. I’m The Loner. Here’s to you, Spain.") .[7]
Stay in prison
On 27 July he started a hunger strike as a protest for being moved to a high security level prison. He stopped the protest two days later. .[8]
According to his lawyers Portuguese Elisa Maia and Spanish José Mariano Trillo-Figueroa, the alleged criminal admits being a robber, but denies having murdered the three people of whose deaths he is accused of, claiming that the former Civil Guard General Enrique Rodríguez Galinda, and the former Extremadura Junta President Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra were involved in them.[9] In addition, he admits that the robberies were indeed his, saying that he “robbed banks in order to liberate the Spanish from the bank’s thefts” ».[10] .
Trial
During the trial, that took place in July 2008, Jaime Giménez Arbe pleaded not guilty to the charge of two Civil Guards murders, as well as declaring himself antisystem, anarchist and define his robberies as “bank expropriation”. He also confessed having started his criminal career with Corsican anti-capitalist groups, with which he committed his first robbery.[11] Those sworn statements are similar to the ones in the letter he wrote for the “public opinion” while his stay in Zuera’s prison.[12]
In the trial, which took place in the Navarra Provincial High Court until 29 April 2008, he was found guilty of the two police officers murder in 2004, and was sentenced to 47 years imprisonment.[1]
| Date | Town | Province | Country | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 18, 1993 | Adamuz | Córdoba | Spain | He used a Citroen C15, and was possibly helped by his brother. This bank doesn’t exist anymore.[13] |
| May 2, 1994 | Viveiro | Lugo | Spain | Robbed a Banco Exterior de España Bank office. |
| May 10, 1996 | Zafra | Badajoz | Spain | Shooting with the Civil Guard. He used a Renault 4. |
| May 22, 1998 | Melide | A Coruña | Spain | Robbed a Caixa Galicia Bank office. |
| July 4, 1998 | Teruel | Teruel | Spain | Fled in a jeep after appropriating 1,778,000 pesetas from a CAI office. |
| September 4, 1998 | Binéfar | Huesca | Spain | Appropriated 3,997,000 pesetasfrom an Ibercaja office. |
| November 26, 1998 | Jumilla | Murcia | Spain | Robbed a CAM office and appropriates ₧12,600,000 million. |
| March 5, 1999 | La Roda | Albacete | Spain | Appropriated 3,000,000 pesetas from a Caja de Ahorros de Castilla La Mancha office. |
| April 23, 1999 | Socuéllamos | Ciudad Real | Spain | Assaulted a CCM office and appropriated two million pesetas. |
| June 10, 1999 | Calahorra | La Rioja | Spain | Appropriated 1,197,000 pesetas from a Cajarioja office. |
| July 14, 1999 | A Estrada | Pontevedra | Spain | Appropriated 1,668,000 pesetas from a Caixa Pontevedra office. |
| July 15, 1999 | Chantada | Lugo | Spain | |
| September 2, 1999 | Alfaro | La Rioja | Spain | Appropriated more than 3,000,000 pesetas from the Ibercaja office in Alfaro’s España Square.. |
| October 14, 1999 | Calamocha | Teruel | Spain | Appropriated 4,100,000 pesetas from an Ibercaja office. Fled in a Suzuki. |
| October 15, 1999 | Cariñena | Zaragoza | Spain | |
| December 23, 1999 | Mula | Murcia | Spain | As he was leaving, he said “Merry Christmas” to those present. |
| May 10, 2000 | La Vall d'Uixó | Castellón | Spain | Robbed a Caja Rural de San Isidro office, appropriating 3,300,000 pesetas. There was a spectacular shooting against local police presence. One of them died as a result from a shoot by another one.[14] |
| December 22, 2000 | Gallur | Zaragoza | Spain | |
| June 14, 2001 | Pina de Ebro | Zaragoza | Spain | |
| August 18, 2001 | Cee | A Coruña | Spain | |
| October 9, 2001 | Zuera | Zaragoza | Spain | |
| January 23, 2002 | Calasparra | Murcia | Spain | Appropriated his biggest lot, more than €100,000, so he quit robbing for a year. |
| March 26, 2003 | Pozoblanco | Córdoba | Spain | Robbed a CajaSur office and appropriates €30,000. Fled in a Suzuki Vitara. |
| August 20, 2003 | Vilalba | Lugo | Spain | |
| September 19, 2003 | Torrijos | Toledo | Spain | Robbed a CCM office placed in España Square. |
| June 9, 2004 | Castejón | Navarra | Spain | Allegedly killed two Civil Guards with a sub-machine gun, after a failed robbery in La Rioja (Spain). |
| April 20, 2006 | Sarria | Lugo | Spain | Shot a clerk in the leg and fled with €835,000. |
| May 10, 2006 | Alcobendas | Madrid | Spain | In La Moraleja district. Fled in a Renault Kangoo. |
| May 12, 2006 | Tres Cantos | Madrid | Spain | |
| October 10, 2006 | L'Alcúdia | Valencia | Spain | Robbed the Banco Popular office placed in Antoni Almela Street, and appropriated €6,000. |
| November 11, 2006 | Ávila | Ávila | Spain | Robbed #8 Caja Ávila office, placed between Virgen de las Angustias Street and Padre Victoriano Street.[15] |
| December 14, 2006 | San Agustín del Guadalix | Madrid | Spain | Appropriated €10,000. This office had been previously robbed more than ten times. |
| February 7, 2007 | Madrid | Madrid | Spain | In Canillas district, 200 meters away from the Judge Police Station. |
| May 18, 2007 | Toro | Zamora | Spain | Shot a clerk in the leg, and fled with a €6.000 loot.[16] |
| July 23, 2007 | Figueira da Foz | Coimbra | Portugal | Jaime Giménez, «El Solitario», is arrested as he was going to rob a bank in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 AFP: "El Solitario is sentenced to 47 years in prison for murdering two police officers (Spanish)
- ↑ ABC.es El Solitario thinks he is Curro Jiménez (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario’s one thousand faces| elmundo.es
- ↑ "He kept shooting. It was war." • ELPAÍS.com (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario’s hobbies: music… and explosives - 20minutos.es (Spanish)
- ↑ Preemptive prison for El Solitario (Spanish) • ELPAÍS.com
- ↑ “Hi, everyone. I’m El Solitario”, says the robber at the court’s door - 20minutos.es (Spanish)
- ↑ Preemptive prison for El Solitario after declaring before a Portuguese judge| elmundo.es (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario emulates Curro Jiménez • ELPAÍS.com (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario claims he robbed to liberate Spanish people from the bank’s thefts | El Periódico de Catalunya | Sociedad (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario claims he is an anarchist and never having killed anyone| El Periódico (Spanish)
- ↑ Jaime Giménez Arbe’s letter to public opinion, from Zuera’s prison (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario is visibly proud of his arrest and amuses himself posing - 20minutos.es (Spanish)
- ↑ Vall d’Uxo’s robbery reconstruction (Spanish)
- ↑ El Solitario’s Avila robbery - videos.abc.es (Spanish)
- ↑ El solitario, a dangerous robber on YouTube (Spanish)
