International
The trial against Daniel Sancho in Thailand concludes and the reading of the sentence is set for August 29
The trial against the Spaniard Daniel Sancho, accused of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, concluded this Thursday in Thailand with a plea from the accused after a trial of about a month.
The last hearing of the trial against Sancho concluded this Thursday around 11:00 local time (04.00 GMT) in the Provincial Court of Samui (southern Thailand), a day before the date initially scheduled for the end of the process, which has been held behind closed doors since last April 9.
Although initially the magistrate gave a month for the parties to present final arguments in writing from now on, the defense asked to extend that period to two months because they have to translate it, which the magistrate authorized and delayed the reading of the sentence.
During today’s hearing, Sancho made a final plea of about 45 minutes, which he had requested himself.
The last session of the trial is held after Sancho finished the eve of testifying, especially in Spanish but also in English, with difficulties in translating into Thai, and after answering in two consecutive hearings to the questions of the defense and the Prosecutor’s Office.
The trial, which has been held in the midst of enormous media attention and which has had a total of twelve sessions and about 35 witnesses, with only a dozen on behalf of the defense, was attended by Sancho’s father, actor Rodolfo Sancho, and the accused’s mother, investment analyst Silvia Bronchalo.
Likewise, representatives of the Embassy of Spain in Thailand have attended the hearings, a usual protocol since it is a compatriot accused of a crime that can be punished with up to the death penalty, although the Asian country barely applies it.
The Spaniard is also accused of the concealment of the body, for the dismemberment of Arrieta, whose remains were scattered in several places on the island, including the sea, and of the destruction of other people’s documentation, by the Colombian’s passport.
Sancho pleaded not guilty to the premeditated murder, the crime that carries the maximum penalty, and the destruction of other people’s documentation during the first day of the trial, when he only accepted the charge of concealment of the body.
The defense has alleged that Sancho, who has played a very active role in the trial, acted in self-defense after an attempted rape by Arrieta and that the death of the Colombian surgeon in the Spaniard’s villa in Phangan was due to an accident during a fight.
Sancho has been in pre-trial detention since August 7 in the Samui prison, from which he has traveled in a police van to attend the trial and in which he will be re-hospitalized this Thursday.
Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho assured this Thursday that “it is an absolute lie” that he has not conveyed his condolences to the family of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, for whose alleged premeditated murder his son Daniel Sancho has been tried in Thailand.
“I just want to comment on one thing, that I don’t know why there are people who are saying that I am inhuman, that I have never said that I felt anything for the family (from Arrieta), that I have not presented my condolences,” Rodolfo Sancho said today at the exit of the Provincial Court of Samui (southern Thailand), where the trial against his son concluded this Thursday.
“It’s an absolute lie,” the actor stressed, who added: “The first thing I did when all this jumped was indeed that, and people who know it, know it, and those who don’t, have not informed themselves well.”
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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