The Judiciary has commissioned a report from its inspection service on the situation in the courts of the five municipalities most affected by drug trafficking cases: Barbate, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and La Línea de la Concepción (in Cádiz) and Ayamonte and Moguer (Huelva).
The permanent commission of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has made this decision after analyzing a report sent by the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV) which highlights the great overload of work and the limited resources of these bodies, and It proposes, among other measures, that the National Court take over investigations of large drug trafficking networks “regardless of the area in which they operate.”
The judges have sent the Government the proposals from the aforementioned report that require reforming the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) and the Criminal Procedure Law (Lecrim).
The report on the situation of the investigative and first instance courts of the aforementioned municipalities, gateways for hashish and cocaine drug traffickers and large shipments of drugs by sea, must specify what measures can be adopted to reduce the burden of work.
These judicial bodies, especially the 19 in the three Cádiz cities mentioned, have to combine the investigation of complex drug trafficking cases with the rest of civil, criminal and family matters (they are usually mixed courts).
Additionally, the Judiciary has decided to inform the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of Justice of a proposal contained in the report for “an improvement in the provision of material and personal resources, including the additional appointment of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice and officials”, as reported by the CGPJ through a note.
The permanent commission has studied the report it received on February 27, in which the AJFV denounces the overload of work of said courts, which are competent in both civil and criminal matters, as a consequence "of the processing of complex cases for crimes related to drug trafficking.
Procedures linked to drug trafficking generally imply an increase in the workload as they are cases with many investigated, which prevents the judge from carrying out the rest of the matters with acceptable speed.
Thus, it has decided to transfer to the Government, specifically the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, those proposals of the association (it has 930 members and is the second with the most representatives in the race) that would require legal reforms: the assumption by the National Court of jurisdiction over drug trafficking crimes, regardless of the area in which its effects are deployed;
release the investigating judge from the resolution of reform appeals and limit the cases in which appeals can be filed against decisions of the investigating officer;
establish a salary supplement for dangerousness or hardship, or both at the same time, in areas considered especially conflictive due to the investigation of crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering or other similar crimes linked to criminal organizations or groups and implementation of Courts of Instance in the medium term and unification of procedural management systems.
The AJFV report was prepared after the death, on February 8, of two civil guards run over by a drug boat.
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