Andorra Court Rejects Extortion Convict's Bid for Overnight House Arrest

Andorra's Superior Court has dismissed an appeal by a businessman convicted in the Buiques extortion case, who sought to expand his semi-liberty regime to include overnight house arrest.

The criminal chamber's ruling, issued on 28 November, upholds a prior first-instance decision and rejects the request to allow the convict to sleep at home. The man, one of several convicted in the high-profile case, argued that his current arrangement—daytime releases paired with required overnight stays at the penitentiary centre—was causing psychological harm to his five-year-old daughter and hindering family stability as well as his reintegration.

His defence highlighted the child's wellbeing, claiming the setup justified a more flexible measure to stabilise the home environment. Prosecutors countered that house arrest remains an exceptional option, applicable only when strict legal criteria are met, and opposed any modification.

The judges agreed, ruling that no new or sufficiently compelling circumstances had been presented to warrant a change. They found the family situation did not meet the threshold for altering the semi-liberty terms.

The convict will continue under the current regime until completing his 4.5-year sentence, of which he has already served two-thirds. The decision aligns with earlier rulings denying similar benefits to those involved in the Buiques case, including prior refusals of semi-liberty and other expansions by the Superior Court of Justice.