The president of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León, José Luis Concepción, at an act in Burgos in April. Santi Otero (EFE)
The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) is already studying whether to sanction José Luis Concepción, the president of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León who a few weeks ago compared the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) with the National Socialist Party of Adolf Hitler in Germany.
The promoter of the disciplinary action of the Council has opened informative proceedings as a result of two complaints filed against the magistrate in which he was asked to act against him, according to sources from the body.
The permanent commission, the main decision-making body of the CGPJ, had a third complaint on the table this Thursday, the one presented by the member Concepción Sáez, but has refused to send it to the disciplinary authority on the grounds that two others were already being studied.
It is not the first time that the disciplinary authority studies a complaint against José Luis Concepción for demonstrations made in public.
The previous one, as a result of the president of the Castilian and Leonese court accusing Podemos of "putting democracy in question", ended up shelved in April 2021 because the Council framed those words in the magistrate's freedom of expression.
As on that occasion, the promoter of the disciplinary action, Ricardo Conde, has now chosen to refrain from directing this investigation due to his close friendship with the president of the TSJ, which has led him to ask the permanent to name a magistrate of the inspection service to take the file, according to sources from the body.
The demonstrations that have given rise to the new investigation against the magistrate were pronounced at the beginning of the month in an interview granted to the
Diario de Burgos
in which the journalist reminded Concepción of the dust raised in 2020 by other words of his in which he accused Podemos of “putting democracy in jeopardy.”
“Do you still think the same thing?” asked the interviewer.
To which Concepción replied: “I don't say it, history says it.
Communism has generated more than 110 million deaths in the countries in which it has had some kind of influence since the Soviet revolution of 1917;
and the rights and liberties of the people have been significantly undermined wherever he has governed [...]”.
The interviewer reminded him that the PCE is "a legal party that normally presents itself in elections."
To which the magistrate replied: "The National Socialist Party also came to power through the ballot box in Germany in 1933, and we must not remember the consequences of its victory."
According to the Forum of Lawyers and Lawyers of the Left-Network of Lawyers and Democratic Lawyers (FAI-RADE), author of one of the complaints for which the file has been initiated, Concepción's conduct could be sanctioned as a serious or very serious offense for assuming the loss of political neutrality.
The complaint also mentions a repeated provocation of serious clashes with the Government "for reasons unrelated" to her position.
The president of the CGPJ himself, Carlos Lesmes, sent a letter to the magistrate in May 2020 asking for "moderation" and reminding him that the freedom of expression of members of the Judiciary is subject to "specific and stricter limits" than those of the rest. of the population.
The matter is now in the hands of the magistrate appointed to replace the highest disciplinary authority of the governing body of the judges.
The person in charge of the file must study the case and propose to the permanent commission if it is filed or if the conduct of the magistrate deserves a disciplinary sanction this time.
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