Man in Barcelona dies by suicide just before eviction

A 58-year-old man died by suicide this Monday just as he was about to be evicted from his home in the Sants area of Barcelona.

The death occurred just as the judicial entourage arrived at the flat.

The man was alone and the judge had dismissed the social services vulnerability report because he did not meet the requirements to suspend the eviction, according to judicial and municipal sources.

The group had gone to the house without Mossos d'Esquadra police officers because no complications were foreseen.

The lawsuit for non-payment of rent, filed last January by the owner of the property, was processed in a local Barcelona court. At the time of filing the lawsuit, the tenant had gone without paying since June 2020, and the contract was signed in 2018.

When the court handed over the form to the tenant to indicate if he needed help from social services, he did not complete it. This meant that the court did not have permission to transfer information about the procedure to social services. The court provided the defendant with information on how he could directly access social services.

The first date set for the eviction was suspended as a result of the request and processing of free justice. The second fixed date (first effective) was set for this Monday.

Last Thursday the defendant's lawyer submitted a report from social services to the court indicating the tenant's vulnerability and requesting the suspension of the eviction. With the data collected in the report, the court dismissed the request, as the details did not meet the definition of vulnerability that allows the suspension of the release.

According to Barcelona's councillor for housing, Lucía Martín, the man had a "social services report demonstrating that he was vulnerable," meaning that the judge in question "decided not to apply the moratorium on evictions" that is currently in place in Spain for people in this situation.