The majority association of the judicial career, the conservative APM, has issued a statement in which it warns that the amnesty law that will be registered in the next few hours in the Congress of Deputies is “the beginning of the end of our democracy.” since it advocates “breaking” the rules of the Constitution” and intends to “blow up” the Rule of Law. In the very harsh text disseminated through social networks, the APM criticizes that the future amnesty law will question the work of the judges who had cases related to the process in their hands, therefore violating the principle of separation of powers, something “essential” in democracy.
The conservative association, which has members of more than 1,400 judges and magistrates, charges against the legislative initiative that the PSOE will present after negotiating it with the independence partners because, in its opinion, it will mean a delegitimization of the Rule of Law and the legislative Power that promulgated the laws that the judges of the process applied. In this way, they say, a “happy message” is sent that “the legislator criminalizes and the courts condemn in Spain for political crimes.”
For the APM, the amnesty violates the principle of equality in the application of the laws to exempt from criminal responsibility "a class of people solely based on the alleged political motivation of their actions." "It is unacceptable and unacceptable in a full democracy," insists the association, from where they warn that they are not going to comment on the fact "that this legal norm is being agreed upon by the party of the government in office with the highest officials of those crimes", as he maintains that it is not up to judges to evaluate the ethics and principles of political actors, "not even the absence thereof".
“An amnesty law, whatever the trap or constitutional fit sought, is not admissible in the 1978 Spanish Constitution, which is based, among other values, on freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. An amnesty law calls into question the work of the Spanish judges who applied the ordinary laws democratically prepared by the legislative power. It delegitimizes the Rule of Law and the Legislative Branch that promulgated the laws that the judges applied, sending the fallacious message that the legislator criminalizes and the courts condemn in Spain for political crimes,” he summarizes.
With the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as a backdrop, the interim president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Vicente Guilarte, has called an extraordinary plenary session next Monday at 7:00 p.m. to debate the proposal of eight conservative members of issue an institutional statement against the amnesty.
This decision takes place after yesterday the eight members who were once appointed by the Popular Party, and whose mandate has expired for more than five years, asked for the plenary session to agree on an institutional declaration in which the "intense concern and desolation" of the body due to the amnesty law that the PSOE is finalizing with ERC and Junts. The request contains the signature of the members Carmen Llombart, José Antonio Ballestero, Francisco Gerardo Martínez-Tristán, Juan Manuel Fernández, Juan Martínez Moya, José María Macías, Nuria Díaz Abad and María Ángeles Carmona.
In their text, the conservative members assured that the amnesty law will have "degrading" effects for the country, "if not abolishing the rule of law in Spain." They also insisted that when the amnesty is applied to those prosecuted for the 'procés', the Rule of Law in Spain "will become a mere formal proclamation that will inevitably have to produce consequences to the detriment of the real interest of Spain."
Likewise, they expressed their fear that this will affect not only the events related to the 2017 referendum but also other previous ones, among which there would be "corruption crimes", and also subsequent ones, committed "to oppose the legitimate action of the State." to bring its perpetrators to justice.
The signatories of the letter expressly denounced that the law is going to be agreed with parties such as Junts, "led by a fugitive from justice who will personally benefit from the measure", in reference to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. In addition, they attacked Sánchez for arguing that the amnesty will be adopted in the "interest of Spain" to "prevent an eventual government of right-wing parties in the event of a repeat election." "Confusing the 'interest of Spain' with the interest of the acting President of the Government to avoid the hypothetical formation of governments of parties with an ideology different from his is something manifestly incompatible with political alternation," they warned.
