The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has decided to reject for processing the challenge of its president, Jesús María Barrientos, raised by the defense of Laura Borràs to preside over the court that will judge her for the alleged splitting of contracts when he directed the Institution of Catalan Letters (ILC).
The magistrate has already been previously challenged in other cases involving pro-independence leaders. It so happens that in the case of former president Quim Torra, who was sentenced to disqualification, the challenge was denied, but, on the other hand, in the trial of the Parliamentary Committee of the previous legislature, it was accepted when raised by the former first vice-president of the Chamber, Josep Costa. In addition, the Supreme Court recently ordered a repeat trial of the Parliamentary Board of the 1-O legislature for lack of impartiality of two TSJC magistrates, including Barrientos himself.
Gonzalo Boye’s letter to challenge Barrientos stressed that the president of Junts has repeatedly and publicly criticized the body he presided over for what could not be impartial with her. He also highlighted the demonstrations made by the judge against the independence movement.
In an order drafted by Judge Fernando Lacaba, another of those who will judge the suspended president of Parliament, the Chamber refuses to analyze the possibility of removing the one who will also be the rapporteur for the sentence, considering that Barrientos has not compromised his impartiality, neither objective nor subjective, for said public statements, “carried out when the process from which the present challenge arises was not even before this Superior Court of Justice.”
It also warns that the allusion to the “spirit” that Borràs’ public demonstrations may have provoked in the magistrate “does not go beyond mere conjectures or suppositions, far from the neutrality and impartiality with which the judicial function is exercised, always respectful of judicial criticism “.
In conclusion, The Chamber understands that the challenge is based on causes whose invocation is arbitrary or manifestly unfounded and dismissable and says that the alleged political persecution of which Borràs claims to be a victim must be alleged during the trial, and that this has no direct connection with the jurisdictional work of Barrientos.
The judge gives three days to appeal the ruling.
Laura Borràs, upon learning of the order, reacted by pointing out that the lack of impartiality that she attributes to the judge must be “a necessary added value in a political cause from beginning to end.”
