The European Court of Human Rights has criticized the Constitutional Court for rejecting an appeal by six Spanish judges who denounced the blockade in the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
In a ruling this Thursday, the ECHR detected a “lack of justification” of the TC in its decision despite “the evident importance, apparent novelty or legal rarity of the aspects” raised by the complainants. Specifically, it criticizes that it dismissed the appeal by imposing a term that “was not foreseeable.”
Therefore, Strasbourg concludes that his right to a fair trial has been violated. However, the ECtHR has not entered to assess the controversy over the blockade in the renewal of the Spanish judiciary.
Strasbourg limits itself to verifying the violation of his right to access a court, although he acknowledges that his case is “closely linked to guaranteeing respect for the legal procedure for renewing the composition of the governing body of the judiciary and to the proper functioning of the justice system”.
Judges Juan Luis Lorenzo Bragado, Manuel María Jaén Vallejo, Mónica García de Yzaguirre, Rafael Estévez Benito, María Tardon Olmos and José Antonio Baena Sierra presented their candidacy in 2018 to be part of the CGPJ, but Congress has not yet called a session to elect new members due to lack of agreement between the parties. In December 2018, the mandate of the members of the CGPJ expired and since then its components have been in office.
Faced with the blockade in the renewal of the judiciary, the six magistrates aspiring to the CGPJ filed an appeal for amparo in the Constitutional Court, which dismissed it in 2021 because it was filed after the deadline. Immediately afterwards, the judges took the case to Strasbourg to denounce “the lack of possibility of being appointed to the CGPJ, as well as the alleged violation of the right to a fair trial by considering that the decision of the TC was “arbitrary and insufficiently justified”.
