That relations between the Government and the judicial leadership are very deteriorated is no secret, but despite this, Pedro Sánchez's Executive has always maintained scrupulous respect for the decisions of the judges. Therefore, it was surprising yesterday that the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, crossed a red line to question the neutrality of the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón in the Democratic Tsunami case in statements that outraged the judiciary and led the Council General of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to issue a statement to warn of the “institutional disloyalty” that these criticisms entailed.
In essence, Ribera reproached the magistrate, who in an order warned on Thursday that the accusation of terrorism against the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, is increasingly “entrenched”, that in his resolutions he always leans in the same direction and is usually pronounced “in sensitive political moments.”
After betting on “respect for the separation of powers,” Ribera, who today joins the PSOE executive as a member without portfolio, pointed out in an interview on TVE that “that does not prevent us from seeing that there are some people who hold this institutional representation.” of the judiciary who have a certain desire to always speak in the same direction and at a particularly opportune moment", in reference to the coincidence of the judge's order with the processing of the Amnesty law in Congress and, specifically, with the negotiation between the PSOE and the pro-independence parties of the latter's amendments that seek to protect their leaders from criminal oblivion, trying to include in the law accusations of terrorism.
“I would be very cautious regarding the way in which this judge is speaking, since we are accustomed to him always leaning in this same direction, which has an important political implication, and usually comes up at sensitive political moments” , then indicated the vice president, who, when asked if the magistrate, in her opinion, was being guided by political criteria, insisted that "the newspaper archive shows that it is always very correct in the dates where these statements appear." With this she recalled, without making it explicit, that the magistrate reactivated the terrorism case against Puigdemont and Rovira in November just when the amnesty and the investiture of Pedro Sánchez were being negotiated. It was the same judge who requested a report from the Civil Guard a few days before, which he received quickly, and served to support the accusations, at the same time that he admitted the appearance in the case of Vox and the victims' association Dignidad y Justicia. every time he had the Prosecutor's Office against him.
Specifically, García-Castellón rejected on Thursday the Prosecutor's Office's appeal against his decision to send a reasoned statement to the Supreme Court to investigate Puigdemont, Rovira and ten other people for terrorism in said case.
In any case, the third vice president pointed out that the judge “must motivate, explain” his ruling and announced that now “we have to wait and see what happens.” Questioned about whether she considered the Tsunami cause as a case of lawfare, that is, of judicial persecution for political reasons, Ribera argued that it is “capital” to understand that not only the exercise of judicial power matters, but also “the forms and motivations ”.
Although the words of the also Minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge were supported by the second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, or by partners of the Executive such as ERC, from Moncloa, without actually disavowing her, it was clarified that the Executive defends the impartiality and independence of the judges and assured that the Executive will defend them from any interference in their work, “also from the PP's attempts to do so,” a party that these sources pointed out as “a clear example of interventionism in the Judiciary” for the “kidnapping” to which, in his opinion, it is subjecting the CGPJ by “blocking” its renewal for more than five years.
Other members of the Government, such as the Minister of Defense, Judge Margarita Robles, were more forceful in showing their “total and absolute respect” for the Spanish judges who, in their opinion, “always act in accordance with the law, subject to the rule of law.” law, they are independent and do a great job.” The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, spoke in similar terms.
But the nuances were not enough to calm spirits either in the judiciary or in the PP. Thus, three of the conservative members of the CGPJ requested an extraordinary meeting of the body's permanent commission, which was held immediately to unanimously agree on an institutional declaration to defend García-Castellón. The permanent commission warned that Ribera's demonstrations are “contrary to the principle of institutional loyalty, to the general duty of respect for judicial independence inherent to a consolidated rule of law and member of the European Union, one of whose essential values is the separation of powers, essential to realize the value of justice.”
Meanwhile, the main conservative judicial associations (the Professional Association of the Judiciary, the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association and the Independent Judicial Forum) regretted the criticism of the magistrate. Specifically, the majority APM maintained that “it is not acceptable” in a rule of law for a member of the Executive to “veiledly accuse a judge of prevaricating.”
For her part, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, asked the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, for explanations and ordered them to disavow Ribera, because if not, with their silence "they will be assuming that in Spain there is lawfare, and that is not the case.” But convinced that the Government will not overrule Ribera, the popular group requested his appearance in the Senate and presented a proposal to disapprove him in the Upper House, where the PP has an absolute majority and will be able to move it forward, unlike Congress. where I would have no options.
The PP requested the disapproval of the third vice president because it considered that her words were very serious, accusing “the judiciary and specifically Judge García-Castellón of prevaricating and not being impartial,” something that until now only the Catalan independentists did. , in a speech that, in the opinion of the number two of the PP, "the Government has now assumed as payment for Pedro Sánchez to remain in power."
For his part, Puigdemont took advantage of the controversy to accuse García-Castellón of “serious responsibilities in the persistent violation of the rule of law” in a thread on that are “congenital” like the “very existence of the National Court” or the “fact that characters like García-Castellón and other members of the plot can act as judges and have not been convicted for their serious responsibilities in the persistent violation of the Rule of law". For this reason, the MEP affirmed that Catalonia gets rid of more “claws” with “an Amnesty law that does not exclude any of those persecuted for defending the independence of Catalonia.” “Without a comprehensive amnesty that does not exclude anyone, there is no amnesty,” he stressed.
