The CGPJ will discuss the legality of the commissions for alleged 'lawfare' at the request of conservative members

They demand a "strong position" from the Council to put an end to the "harassment" of judges and magistrates

MADRID, 14 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) will discuss in its plenary session on December 21 the legality of the newly created parliamentary investigation commissions to detect alleged cases of 'lawfare', at the request of conservative members, who consider it necessary for the body adopts a "resounding position" against the "harassment" of judges and magistrates.

In a letter, to which Europa Press has had access, the members José María Macías, José Antonio Ballestero, Juan Martínez Moya, Juan Manuel Fernández, Gerardo Martínez Tristán, Wenceslao Olea, Nuria Abad, Carmen Llombart and María Ángeles Carmona ask the interim president of the CGPJ, Vicente Guilarte, that in this ordinary plenary session "the relations between the Judicial Branch and the other powers of the State" be examined.

Specifically, these nine members - who together with Guilarte form the so-called conservative bloc of the CGPJ - see it necessary to analyze the "legality of the parliamentary investigation commissions and the duty of judges to appear" in them.

"The continuous flow of inadmissible statements, disqualifications, accusations, complaints and even threats that judges and magistrates have been suffering for the mere exercise of their constitutional functions, as well as the creation of various parliamentary investigation commissions appointed with the undisguised intention of criminalizing judicial work, demand from this CGPJ a clear and resounding position that puts an end to such harassment and bankruptcy of the Rule of Law," they say.

Sources from the governing body of the judges consulted by Europa Press advance that the request will be granted, so the matter will be debated in the conclave next Wednesday, in which the six members of the progressive wing will also participate.

In recent days, several members had proposed writing a report with legal reasons to support judges and magistrates who refuse to appear in said commissions, a proposal that has been well received internally, so the CGPJ is already studying the possibility of elaborate it, according to the aforementioned sources.

These movements take place after the Congress of Deputies agreed last Tuesday to create three investigative commissions to investigate the so-called 'Operation Catalonia', the Islamist attacks that took place in Barcelona and Cambrils (Tarragona) in August 2017 and the espionage on the independentists with the 'Pegasus' program.

In that same parliamentary session, the Junts spokesperson in the Lower House, Miriam Nogueras, called the president of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court (TS), Manuel Marchena, and the court's magistrates Carlos Lesmes and Pablo Llarena "indecent." .

A day earlier, in the Senate, Junts representative Josep Lluís Cleries accused the togados of undertaking a "political battle" to "try to torpedo" the amnesty law. Faced with such statements, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, came out in defense of the judges and their independence.

Junts' words have generated deep "unrest" in the TS, according to high court sources, to the point that its interim president, Francisco Marín Castán, canceled the meeting scheduled for Wednesday with Bolaños, although he formally alleged "supervening reasons." ".

The meeting has finally been rescheduled for next Tuesday after they spoke by phone and Bolaños reiterated to Marín Castán his demonstrations at the parliamentary headquarters in defense of the togados.

From the CGPJ, Guilarte reacted by describing Nogueras's "personal attack" on several TS magistrates as "inadmissible", while confirming that he will adopt the necessary measures to protect them. Council sources detail that these could range from institutional protection to the referral of cases to the Prosecutor's Office if a crime is detected.

The CGPJ has already expressed its "frontal opposition" to these parliamentary commissions up to two times, warning that it will act through "legally established channels" if necessary.

The origin of them is the part of the agreement reached by the PSOE and Junts to invest Pedro Sánchez as president of the Government where it speaks of creating investigation commissions whose conclusions "will be taken into account in the application of the amnesty law to the extent that situations may arise that fall under the concept of 'lawfare' or judicialization of politics, with the consequences that, where appropriate, may give rise to liability actions."

That final tagline has made both the judges and the prosecutors who participated in the cases that will be affected by the amnesty fear that actions will be taken against them, which has led the four prosecutors of the 'procés' trial -- Consuelo Madrigal, Javier Zaragoza, Fidel Cadena and Jaime Moreno-- to request "institutional protection" from the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Estado, a matter that will be debated on the 20th in the Plenary Session of the Fiscal Council.

Regarding judges and magistrates, the same LOPJ establishes that they have criminal, civil and disciplinary responsibility for actions committed in the exercise of their office. The first could translate into complaints for prevarication - a crime punishable by up to 4 years in prison -; the second, in compensation for the damages caused; and the third, in sanctions for "excess or abuse of authority."

Although in no case could the investigation commissions act directly against them, since if they appreciated such responsibilities they would have to refer the cases to the Prosecutor's Office, the corresponding court or the CGPJ itself, the truth is that there is some concern among the judges and magistrates. by how events may develop, legal sources point out.