Griñán will not enter prison to serve his sentence for the 'case of the ERE'

The former president of the Junta de Andalucía José Antonio Grinán arrives at the courts, on May 18, 2023, in Seville.

The Court of Seville has decided to suspend for five years the execution of the six-year prison sentence imposed on the former president of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, for a crime of embezzlement in the case of the ERE, due to the cancer he suffers. The former socialist leader, 77, will not, therefore, enter prison to serve this sentence.

Griñán's defense requested on December 22 that the court suspend the execution of his sentence, citing article 80.4 of the Criminal Code, which establishes that "judges and courts may grant the suspension of any sentence imposed without subjection to any requirement in the event that the prisoner is suffering from a very serious illness with incurable conditions." The magistrates assume the request of the former Andalusian president and argue in their resolution that the granting of that benefit "is a discretionary power of the judge or court", and point out that "in that area of discretion it must be taken into account that the prisoner" is suffering from a very serious illness with incurable conditions. "

In this sense, the judges of the First Section of the Court of Seville rely on the last report of the forensic doctor, dated June 15, in which she advised against her admission to a penitentiary center due to the "serious and incurable disease" she suffers. "The court in cases such as the present, referring to medical issues, is subject to the technical criteria of the expert in the field whose knowledge is essential to be able to resolve on the merits of the legal issues raised," reads the car, in which the magistrates conclude that "it is for this reason, that in view of the report of the forensic doctor, Expert in the field, this Chamber can only order the suspension of the execution of the custodial sentence for a period of five years." The letter also emphasizes how neither the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, nor the private accusation, exercised by the PP, have opposed the suspension of the sentence requested by Griñán.

Point and followed waiting for the Constitutional

This decision puts an end and followed a judicial journey to avoid the entry into prison that the former Andalusian president began on November 19, 2019, when the Provincial Court of Seville made public its verdict and sentenced him to six years in prison for embezzlement – a crime for which he hoped to be acquitted – and 15 years of disqualification for prevarication for his involvement in the plot of fraudulent aid from the Junta de Andalucía. Griñán appealed the sentence before the Supreme Court that on July 26, 2022 confirmed his sentence. His defense then filed an incident of nullity before the same court and an appeal for cassation before the Constitutional, while his family requested the Government a partial pardon, to delay the execution of the sentence, but the magistrates of the Provincial Court gave on December 22 10 days to the seven former senior officials sentenced to custodial sentences, including Griñán, to be admitted to a penitentiary center, in compliance with their respective sentences.

It was then that the President of the Board requested the suspension of the execution of his sentence under article 80.4 of the Criminal Code, claiming that he suffered from prostate cancer and that he had been prescribed radiotherapy treatment incompatible with his stay in prison. A diagnosis that endorsed the forensic doctor in the first interview she had with Griñán last January and that the Prosecutor's Office and the PP assumed. As the magistrates remember in their car, the Court then decided to suspend his entry into prison until the medical treatment was finished. When this concluded, last May, the coroner was asked for a new report on the evolution of the former Andalusian leader to determine if the new treatment established after completing radiotherapy (pharmacological treatment and rehabilitation exercises) was compatible with his entry into prison. After a first opinion that Anticorruption did not consider conclusive, the last one was clear that it was convenient for Griñán not to enter prison since he suffered from a "serious and incurable disease", the parameters required by 80.4 of the Criminal Code for its application.

The former president of the Board, however, continues to claim his innocence, and is pending that the Constitutional Court resolves on his appeal. In December, the former president assumed that he would enter prison and recognized that he was already a prisoner in his own home, which, after the confirmation of his conviction by the Supreme Court, he barely left, affected as he was by the media repercussion and the personal and reputational wear and tear of a case whose investigation began 14 years ago.

Griñán is the only one of the eight former high-ranking officials convicted of embezzlement – with the exception of former Labor Director Juan Márquez, whose entry into prison was suspended by the Audiencia de Sevilla after having seen his sentence reduced by the Supreme Court to three years of imprisonment – who has not entered prison to serve his sentences. The former Deputy Minister of Employment Agustín Barberá, who suffers from cancer, also requested the suspension of the sentence for a "very serious illness", but the judges did not grant his request and on April 11 he entered a penitentiary center.

Barberá has requested the third degree penitentiary, a situation that already enjoys since June 9 the former Andalusian Minister of Employment, José Antonio Viera, 77, who was granted this prison benefit, five months after his entry into prison, in care of the cancer he also suffers.