Former counselor José Antonio Viera, the third convicted person to go to prison for the ERE sentence

SEVILLA, 2 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Socialist Minister of Employment and Technological Development José Antonio Viera has already entered prison to serve the prison sentence imposed by the First Section of the Court of Seville, for a crime of embezzlement derived from the mechanism or "specific procedure" of financing the fraudulent employment regulation files (ERE) and arbitrary aid to companies, charged to regional funds.

Penitentiary sources have confirmed to Europa Press that Viera, former secretary general of the PSOE of Seville and sentenced to seven years and one day in prison by the First Section of the Seville Court, has already entered a prison to begin serving his sentence.

This past Sunday, the former Employment Minister Antonio Fernández did the same to serve his sentence of seven years, eleven months and one day in prison for this same case.

On the other hand, the former Minister of Finance Carmen Martínez Aguayo, sentenced to six years and two days in prison, already entered the Alcalá de Guadaíra women's prison (Seville) last Wednesday, to begin serving her sentence.

The situation of these former directors was similar to that of the former Minister of Innovation Francisco Vallejo, sentenced to seven years and one day in prison; the former Vice Minister of Innovation Jesús María Rodríguez Román, sentenced to six years in prison; and the former general director of IFA/IDEA Miguel Ángel Serrano, sentenced to six years, six months and one day in prison.

Recently, the First Section of the Court of Seville dismissed the appeals of the former socialist president of the Junta José Antonio Griñán, the former Minister of Finance Carmen Martínez Aguayo, the former Minister of Innovation Francisco Vallejo, the former Minister of Employment and Technological Development José Antonio Viera Antonio Fernández, also a former Employment Minister, Agustín Barberá, former Deputy Minister of Employment, Miguel Ángel Serrano, former director of the IDEA agency, and Jesús María Rodríguez Román, former Vice Minister of Innovation; against the order dated November 15, in which this judicial instance already denied the initial requests for suspension of the prison sentences that weigh on them.

Such requests for suspension of prison sentences were mainly based on requests for partial pardon submitted by those convicted to the Ministry of Justice and the motions for nullity filed before the Supreme Court, which, in response to its appeals against the initial conviction of the First Section, of the Court, fully confirmed the aforementioned prison sentences except in the case of former Labor Director Juan Márquez, with respect to whom he reduced the prison sentence from seven years and one day in prison to three years, when appreciating the analogical mitigation of reparation of the damage.

Griñán's defense, specifically, requested an extension of "three months" in the ten-day period set for his voluntary entry into prison, to "avoid compliance (of the prison sentence) that could be unsuccessful, improper, unnecessary or unfair". "Because what is undeniable is that if the partial pardon were granted or the nullity question for which the reduction of the sentence to two years is considered, the imprisonment that is ordered would be unsuccessful, improper or inadmissible, that is to say , unnecessary",

In this context, in the order that is the object of these appeals against the denial of the requests for suspension of the jail sentences of the convicted persons, the First Section of the Hearing admitted "the lack of criminal records of the convicted persons", but for Another part pointed out "the seriousness and length of the sentences, which prevents the suspension of the execution of the sentence in all the forms included in article 80 et seq. of the Penal Code, reason for which all of them have requested the suspension of the execution while the pardon is being processed".

"There is no circumstance that advises the suspension of the sentence by petition for pardon", summed up the magistrates, who also pointed out, with respect to the incidents of annulment raised before the Supreme Court by the defenses, that "in no way can the presentation of the incident give rise to the suspension of the execution of the custodial sentences imposed in a final judgment", since this "would imply a violation of the precepts that regulate the suspension of the execution of the sentences and the effective fulfillment of the same".

As for Juan Márquez, sentenced to three years in prison, the panel argued that "his situation is different, the sentence being three and four years less than that of the rest, which together with the lack of a criminal record and objective reasons that determined a quantitative penological reduction in the sentence handed down by the TS, are circumstances to be taken into account so that it proceeds, for a prudential time of one year, to the suspension of the execution of the custodial sentence while the pardon is being processed" .

In this sense, in response to the appeals of Griñán, Martínez Aguayo, Francisco Vallejo, José Antonio Viera, Antonio Fernández, Agustín Barberá, Miguel Ángel Serrano and Jesús María Rodríguez Román; The Court stated in its new order that they "raise issues already resolved in the appealed order and there is no data or circumstance that allows the resolution issued to be amended", which "sufficiently substantiates the denial of the suspension" of the prison sentences.

"Not in vain, the duration of the trial sessions lasted for a year, given the complexity of the matter, in addition to the time necessary for the drafting of the sentence", the magistrates highlighted in their new order, concluding that "the course of the time is not a reason for granting the requested suspension" and thus ratifying the contested order.

Although the court dismissed the appeal of the former Deputy Minister of Employment Agustín Barberá, it did agree to suspend his imprisonment until the suspension of the execution of the sentence requested by his defense is processed based on article 80.4 of the Penal Code, related to the case. that the prisoner is suffering from a very serious illness with incurable conditions, pending a report by the forensic doctor.

Thus, finally, the court required all those sentenced to prison, except Barberá, so that within a period of ten days that would end this Monday, January 2, they "voluntarily enter" prison.

However, the defense of José Antonio Griñán alleged that he had recently been diagnosed with a serious illness, requesting again the suspension of the term of imprisonment with respect to this defendant, according to this reason.

In view of this, and once the medical documentation provided by Griñán's representation had been seen, the First Section of the Hearing ordered that a coroner from the Institute of Legal Medicine examine the documentation and make an examination of Griñán if necessary, so that he could issue a report "assessing whether admission to a prison could have an impact on the development of the disease or on the prescribed treatment".