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Barcelona court sends noisy bar owner to prison.
Barcelona court on Wednesday sentenced a bar owner to 4 years in prison because of the unlawful noise levels coming out of his property. Besides the longest ever sentence for such an offense, the owner of El Portet will also have to pay 32,000 to two couples who reported the noise, and who have had to undergo medical treatment due to the stress and sleep deprivation they endured for the year and a half that the business was open.The court found that the Barcelona bar-restaurants owner, Dionisio Mestre Rodriguez, had no operating license because local authorities had denied it since the venue was not soundproofed to reduce the sounds from the freight elevator, the mechanical blinds and the extractors. Two couples that live above the business reported the noise to City Hall, which on December 11, 2003, ordered the premises to shut down. The owner agreed to fix the noise problem, but did nothing about it - not even when an inspection inside neighbors, bedrooms found noise levels of 38.77 decibels, above the 30-decibel legal limit. On May 19, 2004, local authorities again ordered the closure of the bar, and again on July 12. Both orders were ignored, and a new inspection found that the noise levels inside the overhead apartments had actually increased to nearly 46 decibels. In November 2004 municipal authorities sealed off the business, but the owner broke the seal and reopened the restaurant - twice. In fact, the restaurant is still open for business, and although noise levels have been reduced, the judge said that this only happened. The accused had shown a complete disregard for the law, the judge continued. In court, Mestre Rodriguez claimed that the trucks and ambulances passing by caused the noise.
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