Giménez-Salinas receives the endorsement to be trustee of Greuges with a defense of restorative justice

Esther Giménez-Salinas has received the endorsement in the Parlament to be elected as the new Greuges trustee in the penultimate process before reaching the plenary session.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
24 June 2022 Friday 12:36
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Giménez-Salinas receives the endorsement to be trustee of Greuges with a defense of restorative justice

Esther Giménez-Salinas has received the endorsement in the Parlament to be elected as the new Greuges trustee in the penultimate process before reaching the plenary session. The candidate has reviewed her professional life by defending her candidacy in the parliamentary commission, giving the keys with which she wants to guide her mandate, focusing above all on the defense of restorative justice. A justice, he has said, that puts the victim at the center, that listens to her, but that at the same time takes into account that aside from the most serious crimes - rape, murder - the responses must try to avoid punishment as it is now understood in prison terms. “Agreed solutions are the best”, she has said.

The suitability of her candidacy reached the parliamentary commission agreed by the PSC, JxCat and ERC, which are the groups that have voted for her and must be ratified in the plenary session of the Chamber. An agreement that she has defended in her appearance before the criticism of the formations that have not been part of the agreement. The pact as an image of a new political stage is what she wanted to highlight, and also her respect for disagreement.

In the defense of this restorative justice, he has focused first on children and youth, pointing out that internment must be the last resort. And he has also taken the analysis to the general level, emphasizing that the current system still has reminiscences of the eighteenth century. "The wounds have to close well - he has said - if we want a peaceful country, the solutions have to be humane". He spoke of justice in a broad sense, but without forgetting the political key.

In his review of his long professional activity, he has pointed out as difficult the stage in which he was in the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), he has criticized the “masculine” gaze that continues to prevail in many institutions –justice, the university…- and has indicated that with this journey as trustee he faces the last stage of his career. "And this can be a danger because you are braver," he ironized.

Likewise, he has opted for a collaboration with the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, and when faced with questions from JxC regarding this institution's investigation of Catalan, Giménez Salinas has been clear. "Perhaps the procedures were legally fulfilled, but it is not legitimate."

After listening to the candidate, the committee approved her suitability as a candidate, putting an end to the long interim period – it had expired more than three years ago – together with the extensive mandate of Rafael Ribó, who has been a mayor for 18 years. Giménez-Salinas has not wanted to assess the work of her predecessor after criticism from some groups, including the PSC, which has criticized excessive "personalism." The next trustee wanted to make her independence clear by saying that she "doesn't belong to anyone"

After his appearance, he spoke for a while with the deputies, who were joined by Jordi Sànchez, former general secretary of JxCat.