The High Court of Justice of Aragon has sentenced Francisco Franco Martínez-Bordiu to 30 months in prison for, in 2012, driving into an official Civil Guard vehicle, injuring an agent and fleeing from the scene. He is the first male grandson of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The prosecution had asked for 6 years imprisonment, and 4 years for his employee, Silviu Nicolae, who was in the passenger seat. Nicolae, however, has been cleared of all charges.
Franco will also have to pay 1,500 euros (£1,320, $1,840) in compensation to the injured Civil Guard and 2,720€ (£2,400, $3,330) to the police force's directorate. The charges he is convicted of are attack against agents of authority, damages and reckless driving.
The verdict remarks that the versions of events recounted by the different witnesses brought by Franco "don't pass the plausibility test" and they are "not highly believable and not close to the truth". It also highlights that the victim's testimony "has remained unchanged through the different phases of the case", and that his version could be checked against other information.
It's not the first time Franco, a businessperson, has attracted legal attention. In 1977 he was accused of poaching and in 2009 he was threatened with legal action after an incident in a train station in Zaragoza.