The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has proposed a partial pardon for the suspended president of the Parliament, Laura Borràs, in the same ruling that sentenced her to four and a half years in prison and 13 years of disqualification for the crimes of documentary falsification and prevarication due to irregularities committed at the head of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, between 2013 and 2017.
Although it initially seems striking, this proposal is a tool that the courts have and is used in various cases to avoid excessive or disproportionate sentences. Article 4.3 of the Penal Code establishes that a sentencing court may resort to the Government to request the granting of pardon for a convicted person when it understands that the penalty, in application of the current law, “is notably excessive, given the harm caused by the infraction and the personal circumstances of the prisoner”.
The court that has imposed the sentence on Borràs explains that in reference to the continued crimes of documentary falsification, “we estimate that the criminal reaction that forces us to impose a term of imprisonment that in no case may be less than four years , six months and one day (minimum of the upper half provided for in the infringed precept, due to the effect of the punishment rule provided for cases of criminal continuity), is disproportionate and excessive for the reality that underlies the behaviors already invariably qualified as typical and criminals”.
In his opinion, the false activities displayed by the defendants, “in addition to not being oriented towards obtaining personal gain, found their only meaning or raison d’être in masking the initial prevaricating conduct before the control organisms, due to the that Borràs already receives the consequence of the penalty provided for said illicit in all its dimension ”.
What the body explains is that the leader of Junts has already imposed a sentence of disqualification for the crime of prevarication, but that added to the falsehood, which entails a prison sentence, makes the total sentence “excessive” and prevents can be replaced by a fine. For this reason, the court understands that Borràs should be partially pardoned so that the sentence does not exceed two years and thus avoid her entry into prison.
According to legal sources, most of the cases in which the court makes use of this option is when it considers that, as the legislator has decided, the penalty is excessive for the facts considered proven.
According to statistics, most of the cases in which this circumstance has occurred is in convictions for crimes against public health, that is, for drug trafficking. It has also occurred in cases of non-compliance with the military regime, judged by military courts.
Apart from excessive penalties, sometimes judges also request a measure of grace for the existence of undue delays, that is, because the trial has come a long time after the events that occurred. Another of the circumstances that can give rise to this request is that the judges are aware that there is going to be a legal reform and they choose to take it into account.
Another of the cases in which judges are sensitive to request pardons is due to the age of the convicted person, his early youth and if it is the first time he has committed a crime, due to his employment situation or family responsibilities.
In the end, it is the government on duty that, through the Minister of Justice, opens the corresponding file and approves or disregards the measure of grace, with which Laura Borràs’ admission to jail will end up depending on Pedro Sánchez or whoever succeeds him. as of the general elections at the end of this year, once the Supreme Court confirms the sentence known this Thursday.
