Monday, February 11, 2019

Who is who in the trial of the 'procés'? The judges and lawyers, one by one


Ángeles Vázquez / J. G. Albalat


Seven judges - six men and one woman – are members of the Court which will judge the 12 leaders of the 'procés'. Everyone knows what they have in hand, because none have less than 30 years of experience, as magistrates or as prosecutors.


The court: from left to right and from top to bottom, Manuel Marchena, Antonio del Moral, Luciano Varela, Juan Ramón Berdugo, Andrés Palomo, Ana Ferrer and Andrés Martínez Arrieta.
 THE COURT

THE ACCUSATIONS
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La fiscalía
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La Abogacía del Estado
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La acusación popular: Vox


THE COURT
Manuel Marchena
He is the president of the Court and will be responsible for drafting the sentence. He is a public prosecutor through public examination. He considers himself conservative, although his first promotions in the fiscal career came from the hand of the PSOE. He has been about to preside over the Supreme Court at the proposal of the PP, but a whatsaap of the spokesman of this party, Ignacio Cosidó, boasting of his appointment led him to resign.

Marchena arrived at the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court in 2007 and has presided over it since 2014. He was the investigating judge in the case for the alleged payments from Banco Santander to the ex-judge Baltasar Garzón that was filed, and participated in the trial in which this ex-judge was sentenced to 11 years of disqualification for the illegal phone taps in the plot 'Gürtel'. He has been a reporting judge in numerous resolutions, such as the one that condemned rapper César Strawberry, where the limits of freedom of expression in the face of terrorism were set up. He also presided over the court that sentenced the former Catalan minister Francesc Homs for the 9-N referendum.

Andrés Martínez Arrieta
He was for a few days the president of the court that was going to judge the 'procés' because he was the oldest magistrate of those who are members of the Second Chamber, where he arrived in 1998, after having been the youngest member ever in the General Council of the Judicial Power. He is one of the founders of the moderate association ‘Francisco de Vitoria’ and was reporting judge of the sentence that acquitted Baltasar Garzón in the case of the crimes of the Franco regime.

Antonio del Moral
Public prosecutor through public examination, he served in the Supreme Court between 1999 and 2012, when he was appointed as one of its magistrates. Among other resolutions he has been reporting judge in the case where Iñaki Urdangarin was condemned for the 'case Nóos', as well as in the case in which the disqualification of former president Artur Mas by the 9-N referendum was reduced. His incorporation to the court of the 'procés' was due to a replacement of the ex-attorney general of the State Julián Sánchez Melgar, who upon his return to the Supreme Court had to resign from the case.

Juan Ramón Berdugo
Magistrate of the Supreme Court since 2004, he has been reporting judge of the sentence that reviewed the conviction in the case Rocío Wanninkhof, as well as the sentence which confirmed the acquittal of the former president of the Valencian Government Francisco Camps in the case of the ‘suits’. He was also member of the Chamber that established the 'Botín doctrine' and the 'Parot doctrine', which was later annulled by the ECHR. Recently he has been one of the four magistrates who issued a particular vote to the sentence that established that any aggression of a man to his partner or ex-partner must be considered macho violence.

Luciano Varela
Founder of the progressive association ‘Judges for Democracy’, he participated in the drafting of the Act of the Jury of 1994. He came to the Supreme Court in 2007 and was responsible for the investigation of the case against ex-judge Garzón for his investigation of the crimes of Franco. Among the trials of which he has been a reporting judge stands out the one that confirmed the four years of imprisonment to the former president of the Diputación de Castellón, Carlos Fabra.

Ana Ferrer
Investigating judge of the 'Roldán case' that ended with the conviction of the former Director General of the Civil Guard, she was the first woman to preside over the Provincial Court of Madrid and, in 2014, was the first to access to the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. Both she and Andrés Palomo have been the last magistrates to join the court of the 'procés'. This was due to the decision of the Supreme Court by which the Court would be composed of seven judges and not five, given the relevance of the matter to be discussed.

Andrés Palomo
Appointed to the Supreme Court at the same time as Ferrer, he had been president of the Audiencia de Segovia. He is not a member in any judicial association. He was the instructor of the case that was followed against the former Catalan minister Francesc Homs, for which he was sentenced to 13 months of disqualification. Among the sentences in which he was reporting judge it is to be highlighted the one that annulled, due to lack of evidence, the sentence to 119 years in jail of the ETA member Itziar Alberdi Uranga, who escaped from Spain for 22 years, as well as the one that revoked for the first time a sentence to reviewable permanent prison.

THE ACCUSATIONS
















The accusations: Consuelo Madrigal, Javier Moreno, Fidel Cadena, Javier Zaragoza, Rosa María Seoane and Javier Ortega Smith.


The public prosecution

The four Supreme Court prosecutors who will represent the public prosecutor in the trial have extensive experience. The four belong to the highest category in the prosecutors’ career. They are Fidel Cadena, Jaime Moreno, who was also the prosecutor of the trial against Francesc Homs; Javier Zaragoza, former chief prosecutor of the National High Court, and Consuelo Madrigal, ex-attorney general of the State.

The State Attorney

Edmundo Bal was replaced as State Attorney Chief of Criminal branch by Rosa María Seoane, after the former was removed from the cause of the procés for being in favor of accusing for rebellion instead of sedition, the criminal charge finally proposed by the Legal Services of the State. The Legal Services of the State will be represented in the trial by her and by Elena Sáenz.

The popular accusation: Vox

The party of Santiago Abascal has exercised popular accusation ever since the inquiry in the Supreme Court began. The lawyers present in the case also have high positions of responsibility in the Vox party: Javier Ortega Smith is the general secretary of Vox and Pedro Fernández, national vice-secretary of that political group.

THE DEFENSES














 

The defenders: Andreu van den Eynde, Jordi Pina, Josep Riba, Javier Melero, Pau Molins, Marina Roig, Mariano Bergés and Olga Arderiu.

Jordi Pina

Lawyer of Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull. 33 years of professional practice. He defended former Catalan minister Irene Rigau in the 9-N trial. Vice-Dean of the Col·legi de l'Advocacia de Barcelona, ​​he was the lawyer of Jordi Montull in the trial for the looting of the Palau de la Música and he is also present in the 'case 3%'. He likes to organize excursions to exotic countries and pick mushrooms. It is an inveterate 'culé' [supporter of Barça].

Andreu van den Eynde

Lawyer of Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva. He has represented human rights entities, such as SOS Racisme. He was in charge of the defense of the victims of the fatal run over of a train in Castelldefels during the festival of San Juan in 2010. Linked to ERC since he made the 'compilation' to prevent the party from committing any crime. He is guitarist of the band of 'thrash metal' Vientos de Poder.

Olga Arderiu
Lawyer of Carme Forcadell. Specialist in criminal and penitentiary law. Member of the Board of the Col • legi de l'Advocacia de Barcelona. She has participated in the Women's Group of the Municipal Council of Social Welfare of the Barcelona City Council and is a member of the Associació de Dones Emprenedores. She is the lawyer of one of the main persons involved in the '3% case'. Among her hobbies are sports and photography.

Javier Melero

Lawyer of Joaquim Forn. He was the lawyer of Artur Mas in the trial for the 9-N. He has been in the main judicial cases of the last years since he is the habitual lawyer of Convergència. He defended Oriol Pujol in the 'ITV case' and the former treasurer of the party in the 'Palau case', as well as in the '3% case'. A great boxing fan, he was present in the meetings that ended in the birth of ‘Ciudadanos’, although he does not consider himself a founder of this party.

Marina Roig

Lawyer of Jordi Cuixart. President of the Criminal Law Section of the Col • legi de l'Advocacia de Barcelona. Diploma in Criminology. She has studied specializations in criminal law for minors, penitentiary and sexist violence. Among her hobbies are reading and dancing.

Mariano Bergés

Lawyer of Dolors Bassa. Coworker of Marina Roig. Throughout his professional career he has assumed the defense of private interests and of large companies and multinationals. Associate Professor at the Law School of the University of Barcelona.

Pau Molins

Lawyer of Santi Vila. One of the most reputable criminal lawyers in Barcelona, ​​defender of Félix Millet and Infanta Cristina in the 'Nóos case'. His family has one of the companies with the most links with the Catalan bourgeoisie, Cementos Molins. He is the lawyer of former Barça president Sandro Rosell. Vocalist of the musical group Porfinviernes. The lawyer Joan Segarra will accompany him in the trial of the Supreme Court.
Josep Riba

Lawyer of Carles Mundó. Associate of Fermín Morales, he has been present in numerous media cases, such as the defense of socialist ex-counsellors of the City of Santa Coloma de Gramenet in the 'case Pretoria' and the representation of the footballer Samuel Etoo. He was in charge of the accusation for the death of an assailant in the home of the jewelers Tous. He plays classical piano.

Judit Gené

Lawyer of Meritxell Borras. Associate of Javier Melero, with more than 20 years of practice as a lawyer, always in the specialty of criminal law. She was born in Torà (Segarra). Supporter of Barça. Her two daughters and her profession occupy almost all her time.

 https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20190211/juicio-proces-jueces-abogados-7297610

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