A Supreme Court harassed by the vacancies faces the pending course of the pardons of the 'procés' and the sentence of the ERE

MADRID, 4 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court faces this new judicial year with a reduced staff due to the impossibility of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to make new appointments. And it does so pending the publication of the ruling on the case of the ERE of Andalusia, and to rule on the appeals presented by Ciudadanos, Vox and PP --among others-- against the pardons of the leaders of the pro-independence 'procés' in Catalonia .

In a course start very similar to that of 2021, in the Supreme they suffer, if possible even more, the consequences of the political blockade in the renewal of the CGPJ. It should be remembered that PSOE and United We Can promoted and carried out a reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) in March 2021 that prohibited the governing body of the judges from making discretionary appointments in the judicial leadership while in office, a situation in which found since December 2018.

The direct consequence of this is that the Supreme Court is carrying out its work but at half speed and adding new vacancies. In fact, in October 2021, the Governing Chamber of the Supreme Court (TS) approved a report from the Technical Office in which it warned that the fact of not covering the new gaps would imply that 1,000 fewer sentences would be carried out per year.

The Supreme Court estimates that by the end of 2022 the total number of vacancies will rise to 16, which represents around 20 percent of its total staff of 79 magistrates. To these should be added two more vacancies in the event that the governing body of the judges decides in this month of September, as sources consulted by Europa Press assure, that the magistrates that must be appointed for the Constitutional Court must leave the Supreme Court.

In any case, the Supreme Court (TS) must respond to pending issues from the previous year, such as its ruling on the partial pardons of the Government to the leaders of the Catalan independence process.

Before the summer, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber corrected its initial decision to reject the appeals filed against those pardons. On a first occasion, he understood that the parties lacked legitimate interest to challenge this measure of grace, but now he does admit the appeals against that decision and will study them to rule on the merits of the matter.

Thus, the Fifth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TS agreed by a majority of three votes against two to estimate the appeals for reversal filed against the orders by which the same section rejected the contentious-administrative appeals filed against the Royals Decrees by which nine of those convicted in the 'procés' case were pardoned.

On the other hand, the High Court must make public the judgment regarding the irregular use of regional subsidies for the Employment Regulation Files (ERE) of the Andalusian Government.

The ruling of that resolution, which is expected to be extensive, was already brought forward and confirms the conviction of the former presidents of the Board Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán. It should be remembered that the first was sentenced to 9 years of disqualification for prevarication, while the second was sentenced to 6 years in prison for prevarication and embezzlement, which now places him one step away from entering prison.

While waiting to know the sentence and the dissenting vote of the magistrates Ana Ferrer and Susana Polo, Griñán's family has already presented the request for pardon to the Ministry of Justice, as reported in a press release this week.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court will start the course receiving the former CUP deputy Anna Gabriel on September 14. She will testify before the investigating magistrate of the 'procés' Pablo Llarena as she was prosecuted for a crime of disobedience for her possible involvement in the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI) of Catalonia.

Gabriel surrendered to the high court on July 19, after spending four years on the run in Switzerland after being prosecuted in 2018. That same day, Llarena annulled the declaration of rebellion that weighed on Gabriel and advanced that he would summon her to testify in close dates, although until then he chose to release her.

In the corridors of the Palace of Justice, they are also awaiting the decision that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) may adopt on the preliminary ruling that Judge Llarena raised after Belgium refused to hand over the former Catalan Minister Lluis Puig.

It so happens that on July 14, the General Advocate of the CJEU considered that the Belgian Justice could not reject the delivery of those accused by the 'Procés' claimed, among them the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, based on the risk of that his fundamental rights be violated if he does not demonstrate systemic and generalized deficiencies in Spain, nor can he question the powers of the Supreme Court as the authority to issue such European orders.

The opinion of the Advocate General is not binding for the CJEU but in the vast majority of cases the sentences issued by the European Justice follow the line marked by these opinions.

Another of the cases that the Supreme is following is that related to the PP deputy Alberto Casero, investigated for certain agreements and service contracts that he would have made between 2017 and 2018, when he was mayor of Trujillo (Cáceres), without following the legally established administrative procedures. .

In June, Casero's defense asked the Supreme Court to file the procedure, considering that there is no evidence to attribute either prevarication or embezzlement in those contracts.