The Constitutional Court (TC) has admitted for processing this Monday the appeals presented by the former presidents of the Junta de AndalucÃa José Antonio Griñán and Manuel Chaves, among others, against the sentences received for the ERE case, according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press . The Second Chamber has given entry to the amparo appeals by four votes in favor and two against, while it has rejected the very precautionary measures intended to suspend entry into prison until the merits of the matter are resolved.
However, the magistrates have agreed to process these requests by precautionary means. The aforementioned sources point out that neither the precautionary measures nor the resources themselves will be resolved until after the electoral process. The decision on the merits could be delayed until next year, due to the complexity of the matter, as well as its repercussion, since there are still dozens of pieces of the ERE case, some in the investigation phase.
The decision on the merits could be delayed until next year, due to the complexity of the matter, as well as its repercussion, since there are still dozens of pieces of the ERE case, some in the investigation phase.
Initially, the twelve challenges to the ERE case were included in the plenary session on May 22, but it was finally decided not to address it until after the municipal and regional elections on the 28th.
After the announcement made by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to advance the general elections to July 23, some magistrates highlighted the need to postpone this deliberation again, but, after consulting several magistrates, it was decided to maintain it.
The magistrate responsible for these presentations is the vice president of the TC, Inmaculada Montalbán, in whose office the first challenge fell, the one presented by the former socialist minister Magdalena Ãlvarez.
Although the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court (LOTC) establishes that the proposal for the admission or not of the amparo appeals is the responsibility of the sections, in this case it had to be raised to the Second Chamber because there was not unanimity among the three magistrates that formed the competent section.
The sources specify that Montalbán’s position was to admit, but he did not have the full support of the Third Section – made up of also a progressive magistrate Laura DÃez and her conservative partner César Tolosa – because the latter was opposed.
Griñán’s defense already announced last July that it would request the Constitutional Court to protect him against the ruling of the Seville Court, and the subsequent refusals of the Supreme Court to revoke it, which sentenced him to 6 years and one day in prison for prevarication and embezzlement. His defense formalized an appeal in April.
At the beginning of the year, the Seville Court suspended the imprisonment of the former Andalusian president so that he could complete his radiotherapy treatment. The latest report from Legal Medicine indicates that cancer treatment is “little compatible with life in prison” because it requires “close surveillance.”
