The Court of Seville has refused to suspend the execution of the sentence of the Supreme Court on the case of the fraudulent ERE, which leads to an upcoming imprisonment of the former Andalusian president José Antonio Griñán and seven other former senior officials convicted of embezzlement.
The three judges order the execution of the sentence despite the fact that the former leaders of the Andalusian Junta have requested a pardon from the Government, which activates the countdown to their entry into prison.
The magistrates consider in their order, dated this Tuesday, that Griñán's reasons for avoiding his admission to jail are not enough: "It is alleged by the representation of José Antonio Griñán personal circumstances and those related to his situation, physical condition and age [ 76 years] that are not relevant for the suspension of the execution of the sentence, without prejudice to the penitentiary regulation and the questions that may arise later before the Penitentiary Surveillance Courts”.
The imprisonment of the former Andalusian president will not be immediate because the judges give two days to present an appeal before the resolution, and then, if it is rejected, the magistrates will give 10 days for the convicted to enter prison.
The Supreme Court sentenced Griñán this summer to six years in prison for embezzlement and 15 years of disqualification for prevarication, while the sentence for his predecessor Manuel Chaves was nine years of disqualification for prevarication.
Almost 12 years after its inception, the macro-cause of the ERE, with some 130 separate pieces, becomes for the first time the entry into prison of its convicted perpetrators —except for the temporary preventive detention ordered by the first instructor Mercedes Alaya in 2012—, which will foreseeably take place at the end of this month or at the beginning of December in the Andalusian prisons that the former leaders choose.
social alarm
The main argument outlined by the judges is the "social alarm" generated by the Supreme Court ruling: "These are long-term prison sentences, [crimes] committed by public employees, who among their duties were entrusted with the management of public funds , which makes the social alarm produced by this type of political corruption crime demand compliance with firm judicial resolutions”.
The Court leads Griñán —if the appeal does not prevent it— to go to prison, along with his former vice-councillor Carmen Martínez Aguayo, the former innovation councilor Francisco Vallejo, the former employment councilors Antonio Fernández and José Antonio Viera, the former vice-councillor of Employment Agustín Barberá, the former CEO of the Idea agency, Miguel Ángel Serrano, and the former Vice-Minister for Innovation, Jesús María Rodríguez.
The judges have only accepted to suspend for one year the sentence to three years in prison of the former Director General of Labor Juan Márquez while waiting for his pardon to be processed.
Meanwhile, from the Senate, Isabel Rodríguez, government spokesperson and Minister of Territorial Policy, has stated concisely in this regard: "Respect for judicial procedures," reports
José Marcos.
The Minister of Finance and Deputy Secretary General of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero, has observed on her part that "all convicted persons have the right to request their pardon and, as established by law, everything must be studied in accordance with the procedure."
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has also indicated that judicial decisions must be complied with.
The reasons alleged by the defenses to delay the execution of the sentence have not been addressed by the magistrates, including the long time elapsed since the events, the annulment incidents before the Supreme Court and the amparo appeals pending before the Constitutional Court.
In this way, they position themselves alongside the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the PP as a popular accusation, which demanded the prompt entry into prison of the convicted.
"There is also no legal support for this court to delay the execution of the sentence, while the annulment incident raised before the Supreme Court is resolved, and even less the precautionary suspension that the convicted persons intend and announce to request from the Constitutional Court," the magistrates respond in his car.
In addition, they argue about the comparison of the political piece of the ERE with other sentences:
"The penalty has been fulfilled for 12 years"
If the imprisonment of the convicted were suspended, the Court considers that this "would imply a breach of the precepts that regulate the suspension of the execution of the sentences and the effective fulfillment of the same provided for" in the Penal Code, the Law of Criminal prosecution and the doctrine of the Constitutional Court.
The reaction to the resolution of one of the former leaders of the Board, who requests anonymity, denotes integrity: “Either you are whole or you are dead.
There is no room for mental weakness, which destroys you with so much time.
The penalty has been serving for 12 years, there have been too many pinches.
They have invented a new right for us and what we did for so much anger must be very bad.
Griñán's lawyer, José María Calero, has refused to comment after the resolution on Tuesday.
Regarding the exception contemplated by the judges for Márquez, successor of the deceased former director of Labor of the Junta Javier Guerrero, the judges allege that his sentence to three years in prison is "less than 3 and 4 years to that of the rest", in addition that he has no criminal record, which allows him to wait a year to decide whether to go to jail after receiving — or not — a pardon from the government.
For the former Deputy Minister of Employment Agustín Barberá, afflicted with an illness, the judges have ignored his arguments and allege that he should be evaluated later —and not by them— if said ailment can be treated from prison.
The resolution has transpired hours after Chaves and Griñán have collected in the Hearing the notification of their sentence to disqualification in the political piece of
the ERE case
.
Despite being summoned by the three judges of the First Section of the Hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, nine of the 15 convicted of prevarication who are disqualified from holding public office have already collected their notifications between yesterday and today, according to sources from the Superior Court of Justice Andalusian (TSJA).
In his brief visit to the Court to collect the notification, Griñán has thrown balls out about the execution of the sentence, which was not known at that time.
“I have not raised any suspension in the Hearing, I am not my lawyer.
My lawyer is the one who answers all legal questions, I have no idea about that ”, he responded to
Diario de Sevilla
, which has advanced the news.
How is the?
"Under the rain", the former Andalusian president ironized.
Half an hour after Griñán, his predecessor in the presidency, Manuel Chaves, has gone to the Court to collect his notification, who has also avoided making assessments of the disqualification.
Both former presidents have been away from politics since they left their seats in 2015: Griñán as a senator and Chaves, as a deputy in Congress.