The CGPJ appoints Rafael Mozo as its interim president and causes bicephaly in the Judiciary

Judge Francisco Marín Castán already exercises the functions of the Presidency of the Supreme Court

MADRID, 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The CGPJ has agreed to appoint its oldest member, Rafael Mozo, as its interim president, after the resignation of Carlos Lesmes, which means 'de facto' that the leadership of the Judiciary is divided, since Judge Francisco Marín Castán He is the one who exercises the functions of the Presidency of the Supreme Court (TS) since the resignation of Lesmes became effective.

The vote has gone ahead with a large majority, 16 votes in favor and only one against --that of the member Wenceslao Olea--, while the member Mar Cabrejas has been absent, according to the sources consulted by Europa Press.

Mozo, who came to the CGPJ at the proposal of the PSOE, entered the judicial career in 1985. He had several destinations until in 1998 he landed in the Provincial Court of Madrid. Since 2018 he has held his position as magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court.

Convened by Lesmes himself with the aim that the progressive and conservative sectors of the General Council of the Judiciary would give an account of the state of the negotiations to appoint the two candidates to the Constitutional Court (TC) --after their third unsuccessful meeting--, the truth is that the plenary session this Thursday has been dominated by the issue of succession.

The possible bicephaly had been glimpsed since the Technical Office of the TS issued the report commissioned by Lesmes to prepare his replacement, after during the opening of the judicial year, on September 7, he warned that, if there were no tangible advances in talks between PSOE and PP to renew the CGPJ, he would resign in "weeks".

The Supreme Court experts established that Lesmes should be replaced by a single person in the two positions he held: president of the CGPJ and the TS. And he targeted Marín Castán for being the vice president of the high court, a position he has held for almost three years, when magistrate Ángel Juanes left the post due to reaching retirement age.

Lesmes defended the technical report before the Governing Chamber of the TS and before the Plenary Session of the CGPJ, and ratified it again in the succession route that elevates Marín Castán when he informed King Felipe VI of his resignation, specifying that, "given the legal impossibility of proceeding Upon the appointment of a new president of the TS and the CGPJ, (...) the mechanism for substituting the president provided for in the law will be activated".

However, sources from the governing body of the judges had already been advancing to Europa Press that the majority of the members of the CGPJ would resist accepting Marín Castán as interim president of both venues, seeing it as an imposition by the Supreme Court that leaves no margin of maneuver to the Council.

The members critical of Marín Castán cling to article 123.1 of the Constitution and 586 of the Organic Law of the Judicial Power (LOPJ), which entrust the CGPJ with the election of the president of the Judicial Power.

But it should be remembered that, after the legal reform promoted by the Government last year, a Council whose mandate has expired --like the current one, which has expired for almost four years-- cannot make discretionary appointments in the judicial leadership, which includes the president of CGPJ and TS.

For this reason, supporters of Marín Castán point to article 590 of the LOPJ, according to which "the vice president (of the Supreme Court) will exercise the position of president of the TS and the CGPJ in the legally foreseen cases of early dismissal of the president and even the appointment of a new president.

Sources from the CGPJ and the TS warn that this bicephaly could lead to a judicial conflict that would be settled in the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TS, specifically in its Sixth Section, which deals with the appeals filed against the CGPJ agreements.