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Cándido Conde-Pumpido, second constitutional magistrate who departs from the resolutions on the 'procés'

2021-04-07T18:10:36.384Z


The former state prosecutor denies lack of impartiality, but explains his decision by the need to "maintain confidence" in the court's performance


The magistrate of the Constitutional Cándido Conde-Pumpido will abstain from participating in the sentences related to the

process.

He thus becomes the second judge of this court to depart from this type of resolution, after Antonio Narváez on February 16.

Both Narváez and Conde-Pumpido have been challenged by the prisoners' defenses.

The resignation was formally communicated this Wednesday by letter to the president of the court, Juan José González Rivas.

In the challenge, all the defenses in the case of the

prosecution

of Conde-Pumpido, former magistrate of the Supreme Criminal Chamber and former attorney general, allege an alleged lack of impartiality based on a conference he delivered in Congress in November 2017. The lawyers of the independence leaders understood that with these demonstrations the court would have lost all semblance of impartiality.

The former state prosecutor denies this lack of impartiality in his brief, but justifies his decision by the need to "maintain confidence" in the court's actions.

Conference in Congress

During his speech in the Cortes of 2017, shortly after the unilateral declaration of independence in the Parliament, the magistrate stated about the situation generated after the events in Catalonia: “What worries me is (…) the pretense of subverting the social State and democratic of Right using fraudulently the own flag of the democracy ”.

And he added: “I am concerned about the populist use of the opposition between a supposed democratic legitimacy directly emanating from the people and freely interpreted by those who invoke it, and the legality, the legality emanating from a Constitution that - this yes - has been approved by the majority.

In short, I am concerned that democracy - specifically, direct democracy - will be invoked to overthrow the Constitution ”.

In his letter to the president of the Constitutional Court ―to which EL PAÍS has had access―, Conde-Pumpido explains his abstention: “The constitutional, social and political controversy that has caused the criminal prosecution of the decisions adopted in past years is known and public. by the Government and Parliament of Catalonia in favor of the unilateral independence of its territory ”.

And it alludes to the need for the court of guarantees not to be delegitimized: “This exceptional circumstance imposes and justifies, in a singular way, the greatest care and demand in maintaining confidence in the impartiality of the action of this court, so that, whatever their meaning, the decisions to be issued cannot be legitimately delegitimized, in an affirmative or dismissal sense ”.

Conde-Pumpido also denies being prejudiced.

He does not believe that in his conference he expressed "unduly and in advance a prejudice about the guilt of the amparo claimants or, obviously, about whether or not their fundamental rights had been violated in the criminal process just started then."

And he adds in the letter: "I have no such prejudices and could not, therefore, express them."

The magistrate argues that in his conference, entitled

Representative democracy in Europe: threats and strengths, he

was based on resolutions that the Constitutional Court itself had already issued in relation to the

procés

.

And, with these references, Conde-Pumpido assures that he did not intend "to anticipate a criminal guilt trial on the parliamentary decisions analyzed there," since "certain actions that could later be considered relevant in the criminal procedure had already been declared constitutionally illegitimate by the constitutional jurisdiction ”.

  • The 'procés' prisoners join the challenge against Conde Pumpido

From now on, the Constitutional Court will be made up of nine magistrates when it has to deliberate or decide on the resources of the

process

.

Last October, magistrate Fernando Valdés resigned for reasons beyond the control of the

process.

Later, the challenges came first to Antonio Narváez and then to Cándido Conde-Pumpido, who have made the decision to abstain without waiting for a decision to be made on those requests from the defense attorneys to remove them from the resolutions.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-04-07

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