Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 5-year-old local girl.
The crowds shouted «murderer» and hurled bottles and stones as the suspects _ a man and his sister _ arrived in a police van. Three police officers and two journalists were slightly injured. Two people were arrested.
«I insist in asking people to stay calm and to let the courts do their work,» Juan Jose Lopez Garzon, Interior Ministry delegate for the southern region of Andalucia, told reporters.
The detained man and his sister were arrested Tuesday in the central city of Cuenca.
Mari Luz Cortes vanished Jan. 13 when she left her home in the southern town of Huelva to buy sweets. After weeks of searches, police found her remains March 7 in an estuary near the city.The case was major news in Spain given that the child had disappeared in an area about two hours' drive from the Portuguese town where British girl Madeleine McCann went missing in May of last year while on vacation with her parents.
Lopez Garzon said the detained man is the main suspect. He had been a neighbor of the dead girl, Mari Luz Cortes, but had left Huelva shortly after her disappearance. He was arrested weeks later but released for lack of evidence.
The General Council of the Judiciary, an oversight board, said Thursday it had ordered an inquiry into why the suspect had been free despite having been sentenced twice in recent years for child abuse. Santiago del Valle García, the man being held in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortes was arrested in Cuenca, along with his wife and his two brothers, although del Valle is the only one to remain in custody.In his original statement, Santiago del Valle García apparently confessed to killing the young girl but later amended his statement to say that although he taped the girl’s mouth and was present when she died, her death was accidental. This latest version claims that Mari Luz had willingly accompanied him and died as a result of falling down some stairs. He admits putting tape over her mouth and then removing the body using a shopping trolley.Meanwhile, the McCann family are keen to question Santiago del Valle García in relation to the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine last May 3rd.
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