Europe News

Spanish villagers take justice in their own hands

Jan 2, 2007, 15:05 GMT

Madrid - About 500 residents of a Spanish village joined forces to burn the entire property of a man who had exercised a 'reign of terror' for seven years, press reports said Tuesday. The man, Javier Bernui, had entered bars and shops at gunpoint and took whatever he wanted without paying, residents said in Villaconejos southeast of Madrid. He also drove as if traffic rules did not exist, trafficked with drugs and ransacked a bar where a local man had given him a beating. When the authorities did not take action against Bernui, 500 of the village's 3,400 residents took justice in their own hands, burning Bernui's house, garage and vehicles on New Year Day. They threw rocks and rockets at police and firefighters, depriving themn of access to the site until flames had consumed everything. Police faced problems trying to investigate case because the villagers claimed a collective responsibility for the action and had agreed to keep mute about the event, reports said. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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