Griñán exhausts all the resources available to him to avoid his admission to prison. His lawyer, José María Calero, presented today at the Provincial Court of Seville an appeal in which he asked that the term given by Justice for the voluntary entry into prison of his client be extended from 10 days to three months. Let us remember that the former socialist president José Antonio Griñán was sentenced by the Supreme Court to six years and one day in prison for the commission of a crime of embezzlement within the framework of the political piece of the ERE.
In this extension, the defense considers it probable that both the annulment motion filed before the Supreme Court, the amparo appeal in the Constitutional Court, as well as the petition for partial pardon filed with the Ministry of Justice, have been resolved. To this end, the lawyer also proposes to the Court "to address official letters to the Government of the nation and to the First Section of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, asking them to remove the obstacles that prevent the most expeditious processing of the two files insofar as they affect the ordinary course of the execution of a sentence".
Given the decision of the Seville Court not to suspend the execution of the Supreme Court ruling, which implies the imprisonment of the former socialist leader and seven other ex-high commanders, and the order to voluntarily enter prison within a period of 10 days, All that remained was to file the appeal. And that's how Griñán's defense has done it.
In the letter, the lawyer requests the extension of said term to 3 months, and points out the "serious irreparable damage and that could be unnecessary" that would be caused to a 76-year-old "septuagenarian" if the open legal proceedings finally prosper in his favor. and the petition for pardon.
"It is undeniable that if the partial pardon were granted or the nullity question for which the reduction of the sentence to two years is considered, the imprisonment that is ordered would be unsuccessful, improper or inadmissible, that is, unnecessary, " is collected in the text. For this reason, he demands that Justice reconsider his decision.
The suspension of the sentence, according to the former president's lawyer, cannot be considered a "breach" of article 80 of the Penal Code and 988 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which regulate the suspension of the execution of sentences and penalties . "Such a breach would occur if compliance with the final judgment was prevented or if a capricious or unjustified delay was caused. But that has never been requested, nor could it be requested by someone who has shown and will show all respect for authority and the courts," he says. the defense brief.
The lawyer insists that with a period of more than ten days, both the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and "where appropriate" the Government would have time to rule "on the petitions pending on such high magistracies", and stresses that the reasons humanitarian "in one case" and legal in another "are really exceptional".
He assures that the Court is aware that the family "has not presented a generic pardon or one void of reasons, but a well-founded and exceptional request for partial pardon based on humanitarian and equity reasons", and recalls that "it is not usual and can be described as exceptional" that two Supreme Court magistrates defend with their individual votes "the non-existence of the crime that entails deprivation of liberty", alluding to embezzlement.
The Court of Seville, the first instance in which Griñán was convicted of embezzlement and whose ruling was ratified by the Supreme Court this September, decided last Tuesday not to suspend the execution of the sentence, as all those sentenced with imprisonment, arguing that the annulment incidents and the pardon petitions had not yet been resolved. The position of the Justice in Seville was endorsed by two separate reports in this regard issued by Anti-Corruption and to which the private prosecution in the case, exercised by the PP, had been added.
Calero, for his part, issued a "request for procedural impulse" before the High Court to resolve, as soon as possible, his client's appeal. "The proceedings are pending the expiration of the granted period", answered the Supreme Court, in whose diligence it stated, on the other hand, "that the nullity incident does not suspend the execution of the sentence, and must be requested before the body in charge of the execution of it", that is, to the Provincial Court that had already rejected this option due to "the seriousness and length of the sentences for which they have been convicted".
On the other hand, he argued that the fact that with a final sentence those sentenced did not comply with the ruling would generate "social alarm", something that has been refuted by Calero, who has indicated that what would really cause alarm is not waiting "just a few months " to "force" the entry into prison of "a 76-year-old septuagenarian, which ultimately turned out to be improper."
"The courts should attend to the social alarm of good and prudent citizens. The other, populist, is a provoked and always interested social alarm, which is born from feeding the worst feelings of resentment and partisan phobias. This social alarm should not deserve the attention of that Chamber", underlines the appeal.
While the petition is resolved and it is announced whether the term of Griñán's imprisonment is extended, the matter is serving as a throwing weapon between the political parties with the greatest representation in the Andalusian Parliament. If yesterday it was the deputy general secretary of the PSOE-A, Ángeles Férriz, who accused the PP-A of carrying out a "political hunt" on this matter, today the spokesman for the Andalusian government, Ramón Fernández Pacheco, who referred to the socialists as "hooligans" who do not accept the decisions of the judges.
In Fernández's opinion, what the Socialists should do is "ask forgiveness for so much excess at the head of the Junta and become a political alternative from the serenity," he commented from the Climate Summit held in Egypt.
For its part, the PSOE-A en bloc shows its "support" both for Griñán and for the rest of those sentenced to jail. Thus, the socialist leader in Andalusia, Juan Espadas, has shown himself in favor of his ex-colleague exhausting all the legal channels that his mayor has to avoid going to prison, since he has asked for "respect" for the "so unfair” which would be his imprisonment.
