Frank Hanebuth (front on the left) with other defendants in court. | Agencies

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Frank Hanebuth, the German who was the leader of a Hells Angels chapter that had established itself in Playa de Palma and was arrested in July 2013, has been acquitted by the Audiencia Nacional High Court in Madrid.

He and twelve other defendants were acquitted on a charge of having belonged to a criminal organisation. The court decided that it had not been proven that they formed a criminal enterprise.

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Thirty-two Hells Angels who settled in Mallorca between 2009 and 2013 have been given sentences of up to two years. However, mitigation was applied to all defendants who had accepted the charges. This was on account of the time it took for the case to come to trial; it started in January this year. Fines have been imposed instead.

This also applies to Khalil Youssafi, who was one of Hanebuth's lieutenants and was sentenced to nine years and 9 months. His brother, Abdelghani Youssafi, who did not accept the charges, has been sentenced to two years in prison for prostitution. He was acquitted of various other charges, such as belonging to a criminal organisation, money laundering, and illegal possession of weapons.

A local police officer was acquitted of bribery and belonging to a criminal organisation. A second police officer has been disqualified from public employment for six months for failure to prosecute crimes. A Guardia Civil officer was acquitted of bribery and failure to prosecute crimes but has been fined for divulging secret information.