Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, pictured on Thursday in Marinaleda. julián rojas

The Andalusia regional High Court has sentenced Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, the “Robin Hood” mayor of Marinaleda, to seven months in prison and also fined him for squatting on a disused estate in Seville belonging to the Defense Ministry.

Sánchez Gordillo shot to prominence last summer after organizing robberies in supermarkets in order to provide food for families in need, orchestrating them from outside the establishments with a megaphone. Along with a following of day laborers belonging to the Andalusian Union of Workers (SAT), Sánchez Gordillo occupied the military land in August of last year.

The spokesman for the SAT, Diego Cañamero, received the same sentence from the court. Both men were charged with a crime of trespass and civil disobedience but were cleared of causing damage. They were, however, each ordered to pay the Defense Ministry 760 euros in compensation. Three other SAT members were found guilty of trespass but the remaining 54 defendants were acquitted.

Only three of the accused attended last week's hearing, with the rest, led by Sánchez Gordillo and Cañamero, staging a protest outside the courthouse against the "repression" the SAT has suffered.