Judicial revolt against meddling by Rajoy government

Claims he is leaving his post for "personal reasons"

Laia Vicens
2 min

BarcelonaAccording to a statement released by the Attorney General’s office, Torres-Dulce has communicated his decision to the Justice Minister, Rafael Catalá. Torres-Dulce will return to his position in the Prosecutor’s office for the Constitutional Court.

The resignation comes just weeks after the controversy surrounding the participatory process of 9N and the confrontation between the Attorney General’s office, which wanted to file charges against the president of the Generalitat, and Catalan prosecutors, who saw no reason to file a complaint.

Faced with the refusal of the Chief Prosecutor of Catalonia, José Maria Romero de Tejada, who saw no crime in the organization of the participative process, Torres-Dulce decided to meet with leading prosecutors to address the issue. In the end, the Attorney General instructed the Chief Prosecutor’s Office to file charges, which it did as was expected.

Next Monday the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia will meet to decide whether or not to admit the complaint for consideration.

PSOE attributes the resignation of Torres-Dulce to “pressure” from Rajoy.

The spokesperson of the PSOE in Congress, Antonio Hernando, has blamed president Mariano Rajoy of having “forced the resignation” of Eduardo Torres-Dulce through “pressure”. Hernando, in a statement to journalists in Congress, has called for the urgent appearance of Rajoy to give explanations, as he considers him the “principal reason” for the resignation of Torres-Dulce.

“The attorney general has resigned because the government pressured him. The attitude of Rajoy toward the institutions is completely unacceptable”, he claimed. According to Hernando, for Rajoy “it is not enough” to have an absolute majority in Parliament-- “he wants to colonize and control all of the institutions, the Congress, the Senate, the Ombudsman, and now the Attorney General’s office and the General Judiciary Council as well”.

The socialist spokesperson affirmed that “the pressure (from the government) has been clear throughout the past weeks, criticizing the Attorney General on numerous occasions”. “The situation is unacceptable from a democratic point of view. It is not possible that the president and the government, through fear, have forced the resignation of an independent prosecutor who had been doing his job well”, added Hernando.

The judges of the Supreme Court want Rajoy to “put a limit on” the meddling of Fernández Díaz.

Meanwhile, thirteen of the eighteen magistrates--including the emeritus members-- who make up the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court called on the president of the high court and the General Judiciary Council (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, to act against the president of the Spanish government for what they consider to be interference by the Interior Minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz. He described the recent release of convicted ETA members as “deplorable” and a possible case of “neglect of duty”.

This was made clear in an unprecedented letter addressed to the president of the chamber, Manuel Marchena, in which they demanded that he speak to Lesmes so as to make the government aware that the acts of Fernández Díaz show “a lack of trust in the institutions” and do not show the proper respect to the Supreme Court. They specifically asked that he requests Mariano Rajoy to “put a limit “ on actions like these.

All the judges of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court signed this letter, except its president (Manuel Marchena) and judges Antonio del Moral, Julián Sánchez Melgar, Andrés Martinez Arrieta, and Carlos Granados. Among the signatories and those who chose not to sign there are judges of all political sensibilities.

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