The Ministry of the Interior has reinstated Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos as head of the Civil Guard Command in Madrid, after the judicial setback that Fernando Grande-Marlaska, according to Interior sources confirm to La Vanguardia. The high command of the Armed Institute was dismissed in May 2020 after the Command he directed began an investigation into the possible relationship between the spread of the coronavirus and the feminist demonstration held that 8-M.
The restitution occurs a few days after the maximum term to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that declared the dismissal of the colonel “illegal” on the understanding that the motivation was not “real” or did not conform “to reality.” It was on March 28, when the High Court upheld the appeal of Pérez de los Cobos against the ruling of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court that confirmed his dismissal, agreed by the Ministry of the Interior in May 2020.
The Ministry of the Interior had until August 4 to carry out the sentence. It was this Friday when the notification was made after in June, Pérez de los Cobos —who was coordinator of the police forces sent to Catalonia to prevent the illegal referendum on October 1— sent a letter to the head of the Interior demanding his restitution “without further delay”.
When the Supreme Court ruling was made public, which caused stupefaction within the ministry, Marlaska affirmed that he would abide by the sentence, despite insisting that the dismissal was justified by the loss of confidence after the investigation report —which finally was shelved—to some media. He also argued that Pérez de los Cobos did not inform his superiors, despite the fact that the Interior has always insisted that they did not claim to know the content of the report.
