What would Mazón gain if the judge allows him to join the dana lawsuit?

BarcelonaThe former Valencian president Carlos Mazón has asked the judge of Catarroja investigating the management of the storm, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, to appear in the case. He has done so in a document sent to the court after the judge summoned him last week to testify –a summons that does not yet have a date– and the Valencian Superior Court of Justice (TSJPV) rejected the request to investigate him. Why is Mazón making this move now? What would he gain if his request is accepted?

Basically, what the former Valencian president seeks is to have access to all the information of the judicial investigation, which at every step has been narrowing the circle around him. If his appearance as an interested party is accepted —he would not act as accuser or accused— the door would also be opened for him to try to influence the investigation of the case, for example, to try to have proceedings rejected, experts recused, or precautionary measures requested.

In the document to the court, submitted on behalf of Mazón by lawyer Ignacio Gally and to which ARA has had access, it is stated that the former president has maintained until now a position of "maximum respect" towards the investigation of the case despite having "indirect knowledge" of the practice of actions that "directly affected his legal sphere". "This position of procedural prudence was not due to any passivity, but to a conscious decision not to interfere either in the actions of the investigating judge or in those of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community," it is stated. But once the TSJ has rejected his indictment, and "fully sharing the conclusions reached by this body" –it is pointed out in the document–, Mazón requests his "voluntary appearance" to "analyze the proceedings that are being carried out against him".

It should be taken into account that, although the Superior Court unanimously rejected Mazón's indictment, it validated Ruiz Tobarra's work and asked her to continue investigating. "The decision [...] does not mean that the proceedings cannot continue in the civil and investigating section," the five judges of the civil and criminal chamber detailed. "On the contrary, it can and must proceed to resolve with freedom of criteria," they added. For now, however, they consider that Mazón "did not incur in any infringement [...] in emergency matters", exempting him from responsibilities in this matter, and that he did not have behaviors that "constitute a crime".

"The only thing it intends is to escape"

Tobarra, who had proposed on three occasions to Mazón that he voluntarily appear before last week's summons, requested that the Alicante politician be investigated for manslaughter and reckless injury and failure to render assistance for an action he described as "negligent inactivity". But so far he has not appeared, nor have the Valencian opposition parties.

"It is truly shameful, truly disgusting, to see that Mr. Mazón is capable of saying that he has always respected the instruction. If he had the utmost respect for justice, when he was invited to appear before the judge, he would have appeared," reacted Compromís leader Joan Baldoví this Monday, regarding the former president's request to be a party to the proceedings. "All he intends is to try to evade the responsibilities he had that day and which, unfortunately, he did not exercise, and that is why we had 230 deaths," he stated, asking the current head of the Consell, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, to demand his seat.