Nine members—all of them proposed at the time by the Popular Party—of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) have asked the interim president, Vicente Guilarte, to “urgently” convene an extraordinary plenary session to make an official statement after the attacks. against the judges that the Government's partners made yesterday from the Congress of Deputies during the debate on the amnesty law.
In the letter, to which La Vanguardia has had access, the signatories also charge against "the acquiescence and silence" with which, in their opinion, the president of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, acts during the interventions of the pro-independence spokespersons. .
The conservative wing of the Judicial Branch recalls in the letter the statement issued unanimously on January 19 by the Permanent Commission, when it expressed its "resounding rejection" of the criticism of the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, of García Castellón, consider that they are "contrary" to the "duty to respect judicial independence", while calling for "institutional responsibility" to "avoid the political use of Justice".
In yesterday's parliamentary session, names of judges such as Manuel García Castellón—instructor of the Tsunami Democratic case—and Joaquín Aguirre—who investigates the Volhov case—were heard again from the speakers' rostrum. The harshest spokesperson in her criticism was Miriam Nogueras (Junts) who assured that her training assumes "full responsibility" for what European justice says. "There are no Marchenas there, we are not terrorists," she stressed.
In addition to Junts, other parliamentary groups launched accusations against judges by name and surname, so Vox asked the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, to call for order and to avoid "behavior inappropriate for a democratic system." This, for her part, has reminded parliamentarians that "due decorum" must be observed.
From Podemos, Martina Velarde recalled that the precedent of the current "savage judicial offensive" against the amnesty law was experienced with the law of only yes means yes: "We are at stake if in Spanish democracy the representatives of popular sovereignty rule (. ..), or the judicial right and Judge García-Castellón".
Sumar deputy Gerardo Pisarello also severely criticized Judge García-Castellón in his speech for seeing "terrorists and traitors to the country everywhere", while he has been "blind to the corruption of the PP." Along the same lines, EH Bildu spokesperson Jon Iñárritu censured the "dark movements" of the extreme right "in the judicial, political and media spheres", within a "coordinated" action with "prevaricating" judges.
The petition is signed by the nine members who, together with Guilarte, form the conservative bloc of the CGPJ: José María Macías, José Antonio Ballestero, Juan Manuel Fernández, Juan Martínez Moya, Wenceslao Olea, Gerardo Martínez Tristán, Carmen Llombart, Nuria Abad and María Ángeles Carmona.
For his part, the interim president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Vicente Guilarte, has also responded to the "unacceptable disqualifications" made yesterday towards judges and magistrates, making a new institutional call to "leave alone" the members of the Judiciary.
"Allow me once again, and I'm sorry to be tiresome but they are more so, to make reference to what happened yesterday in Congress. In addition to the farce and what affects us, we once again heard unacceptable disqualifications of members of the judicial career," he said during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024-2025 academic year of the Judicial School.
"I once again make a futile but insistent institutional call to leave us alone, to not question the impartiality of the members of the Judiciary whose conduct is guided by the principle of legality," he added, as reported by the CGPJ.
