The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia has opened a separate case to decide whether to remove its president Jesús María Barrientos in the trial against the leaders of ERC, Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó for the preparations of the structures of the future Catalan state. This has been agreed in a proceeding by the lawyer for the administration of justice of the civil and criminal chamber of the TSJC. Jové requested Barrientos’ recusal last week, considering that he could have incurred “a loss of objective impartiality” for having openly criticized the processing of the amnesty law.
In an event held on February 26, the president of the TSJC stated that the law of criminal oblivion “does not pacify, but rather generates discord” because it is a law that “privileges a few over the entire citizenry.” Barrientos expressed his opposition to the law in the act of swearing or promising the promotion of new judges. “No one, no person, entity or organization, no matter how powerful they claim to be and even if they hide behind votes, is above the law.”
Barrientos, if the recusal does not go ahead, will preside over the trial against Jové and Salvadó, which is scheduled to begin on April 10, just before the amnesty law is approved. The brief presented to Jové’s defense maintains that the TSJC president’s criticism of the amnesty “clearly and manifestly affects the due impartiality” of the court and represents a “frontal opposition” by the judge to the Amnesty Law. Furthermore, he considers that they add a “reasonable doubt” about the existence of “prejudices” on the part of Barrientos that, in his opinion, imply a “loss of objective impartiality.” Jové already tried to challenge Barrientos and the other TSJC magistrate, Carlos Ramos, under the argument that both had already been removed in other procedures linked to the process due to lack of impartiality, but then this request was rejected.
Barrientos was removed from the trial against the Parliamentary Board chaired by Roger Torrent for lack of neutrality after he stood up as a sign of protest along with several members of the judiciary to the then president of the Parliament at an event at the bar association in 2018. in which he denounced the existence of “political prisoners.” In 2022, the Supreme Court ordered the TSJC to repeat the trial of the former members of the Parliamentary Board chaired by Carme Forcadell because Barrientos and Carlos Ramos had violated the principle of impartiality.
