The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has opened a case against the senator of the Popular Party José Manuel Baltar for driving his official car at 215 kilometers per hour on the A-52 when he was still president of the Ourense Provincial Council and the provincial PP upon seeing evidence of a crime against road safety, as recorded in an order dated last Wednesday, November 15. The Chamber, chaired by Manuel Marchena, has appointed Chamber judge Ana Ferrer as instructor of the case.
On September 27, the Supreme Court received testimony of a quick trial and urgent proceedings sent by the courts of Zamora and Puebla de Sanabria, initiated by virtue of a report from the Zamora Traffic Civil Guard, for the commission of an alleged crime against road safety. when Baltar drove a vehicle at a speed higher than that determined in the Penal Code.
Once it was confirmed that Baltar is a senator in the current legislature, the Supreme Court requested a report from the Prosecutor’s Office, which requested that the jurisdiction of the Chamber be declared for its knowledge and to make the appointment of an instructor, who will be responsible for the decision on the procedures to be carried out. . The notification to the accused was also of interest, with a request for the corresponding Petition, ratifying the actions carried out by the lower courts, which were sufficient, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, to formulate an accusation.
In its order, the Supreme Court explains that, before the case was sent to the High Court, the Public Prosecutor’s Office had presented a document of accusation against Baltar, dated May 12, 2023, considering him the author of a crime against road safety, in the modality of driving motor vehicles at a speed higher than that legally permitted, and requesting the imposition of a penalty of 6 months of fine at a daily rate of 10 euros, with the subsidiary personal liability that in case of non-payment establishes the article 53 of the Penal Code and 1 year and 1 day of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds. And the investigating court had agreed to open the oral trial against Baltar, for facts allegedly constituting a crime of driving at a speed significantly higher than the Regulations.
Once the status of senator appointed by the Parliament of Galicia was accredited, the criminal court No. 1 of Zamora agreed to the inhibition and referral of the proceedings in favor of the Supreme Court, which, in view of this and there being indications of the commission of a criminal act by said person certified before the Chamber, agrees that it is competent to hear it, and therefore proceeds to open the procedure and appoint an investigating magistrate.
Baltar was elected senator by regional designation on July 28, three months after being hunted at 215 kilometers per hour on a Sunday at the wheel of a Provincial Council car.
The inhibition in favor of the Supreme Court occurred after numerous trial attempts, first in the Puebla de Sanabria court and then in the criminal court of the provincial capital, where the politician from Ourense was summoned to answer for an alleged crime against security. road
The events date back to Sunday, April 23, when Baltar was intercepted, according to the final report of the Civil Traffic Guard, at 215 kilometers per hour on the A-52, as it passed through Asturianos, at the wheel of a car from the Ourense Provincial Council.
The PPdeG proposed Baltar to be representative of Galicia in the Upper House just a month after he resigned from continuing as head of the Provincial Council after 11 years. After failing to achieve an absolute majority in the provincial corporation in the May 28 elections, he thus sought to make it easier for his party to retain it, as he himself stated.
