The Supreme Court is one step away from asking the Senate to lift the immunity of PP senator Juan Manuel Baltar, investigated for driving at 215 kilometers per hour in a section limited to 120. The investigator of the case, Ana Ferrer, raised this Wednesday a reasoned presentation to the Second Chamber in which he proposes requesting a request from the Upper House to suspend immunity and be able to take criminal action against the popular senator upon appreciating rational indications of an alleged crime against road safety.
The decision is now in the hands of the Criminal Chamber, which usually responds to the requests of the instructors to process the request.
If this happens, the Senate, where the PP has an absolute majority, will have to vote on whether to remove Baltar's immunity shield.
The Supreme Court opened a case against Baltar last November, after the person initially charged with the case (the events occurred in this province) recused himself after proving that the former leader of the Orense PP is now a senator.
Baltar testified before Ferrer on December 19 and denied the facts, but the instructor believes that the case should move forward.
This decision has the support of the Prosecutor's Office, which demands for the senator a six-month fine at a rate of 10 euros per day and a one-year withdrawal of his driving license.
Judge Ferrer recalls in her brief the evidence that exists in the case and that, in her opinion, allows us to affirm that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that, on the afternoon of April 23, 2023, Baltar was traveling at 215 kilometers per hour behind the wheel. of an official car on the A-52, near the municipality of Asturianos, in the province of Zamora.
The Civil Guard stopped him and fined him 600 euros and the withdrawal of six points from his driving license.
It was 6:40 p.m.
According to sources from the Government Subdelegation in Zamora, initially the matter was processed as an administrative infraction, but the armed institute verified that Baltar's excessive speed falls within the limits to be considered an alleged crime against road safety and He sent him to justice.
The judge explains that, applying the 5% margin of error established by the regulations to the speed at which he was traveling, the result is 204 kilometers per hour, lower than the speed at which Baltar was traveling.
The document submitted to the Criminal Court explains that the evidence found is based on the data included in the report compiled by the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, subsector of Zamora, as a result of the result obtained by the speed meter that on that day April 23, 2023, he was stationed at the indicated time at kilometer point 66.9 of the A-52 highway, as well as its successive extensions.
The instructor rejects one of the senator's main defense arguments, which focused on the fact that, as he had already paid the fine, he could not be investigated.
The speeding for which he is now being investigated already partly cost Baltar his position in the Ourense Provincial Council, from which he resigned in June to facilitate the entity having a president of the PP, as he argued after leaving office.
The PP lost the absolute majority in the province in the municipal elections of March 28 and, to maintain power, depended on a pact with the independent Democracia Ourensana party, led by Gonzalo Pérez Jácome, mayor of the provincial capital.
But the scandals surrounding Baltar, with the investigation for an alleged crime against security as the most recent example, complicated the pact and the popular leader stepped aside.
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