Franns Rilles Melgar, the Bolivian worker who lost his arm in an accident at an industrial bakery in Gandia at the end of May, today initiated a civil and criminal case against his former employers for the injuries he sustained.

Rilles Melgar was accompanied by his lawyer, María José Veiga from the Workers Commission and the Bolivian consul in Valencia, Mario Touchard.

In today's two-hour declaration in front of the judge, he repeated his initial statement to police, maintaining that his employer dropped him off some way short of the hospital in Gandia, leaving him to go in alone, and that he was told by his employer not to say that it was an accident in the workplace.

He also added that his employer had not made any contact with him during the weeks he spent in hospital in Valencia.

Rilles denied that he and other co-workers had manipulated the machinery to increase yield, saying that they never made any changes to machinery set-up without express instructions from the bosses.

He also told the judge that there were at least three other Bolivians working illegally at the bakery in question.

Rilles Melgar is claiming compensation from his employers, saying 'I hope to get some form of compensation because I don't know what I'm going to be able to do with just one arm.'

According to reports, Rilles' employer, on returning to the bakery after leaving the injured man close to Gandia hospital, threw the severed arm into the rubbish bin.  Had he taken the arm with him to hospital, there might have been the possibility of re-attaching it.