The DANA judge indicts the former emergency counselor and excludes Mazón for now

ValenciaConclusive, very blunt. This is how the judge from Catarroja has been investigating the management of the DANA in the Valencian Community and who has summoned as suspects the former Valencian Minister of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas and the regional secretary of Emergencies, Emilio Argüeso, in an impressive resolution in which she points out numerous errors in the management of the Valencian government; the main one, the lack of warnings in the population. On the contrary, she has decided not to summon either as suspect or as a witness the head of the Council, Carlos Mazón, in the process that she is investigating for the alleged crimes of homicide and injuries due to negligence during the day of October 29. In the case of wanting to charge Mazón, she should refer the case to the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Country, given the status of the president as a privileged person, and it would be the high court that would make the decision. For now, she is not making this decision, we will see if she does so later, since she should send a reasoned request.

The judge thus declines the declaration as a witness or suspect of Carlos Mazón, which had been requested by the Association of Victims DANA Horta Sud and two other private prosecutions, respectively. She admits, however, that he could intervene voluntarily.

The reasons for the accusation of the former councillor

The magistrate reiterates that the warning to the population by the EsAlert system at 20.11 hours "was late and erroneous". She also recalls that the DANA "was not an unforeseen meteorological phenomenon", since its advance and development was announced by the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet), "to the point that the University of Valencia agreed to the complete suspension of its activities". According to the magistrate, these forecasts "should have led to a call in the morning" of that day of the Integrated Operational Coordination Centre (Cecopi), "with the aim, at the very least, of warning the population".

Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra understands that the announcements about the "seriousness of the situation" occurred "in various areas and with sufficient advance notice" through Aemet, calls to the Generalitat's 112 Emergency telephone number, the media or the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation. "The problem would not lie in the absence of information, there was plenty of it, and by countless means, in real time (…), but in the fact that, faced with this information, it was either ignored, its scope was not understood (…) or the relevant decisions were not taken by those who had the power to decide," she stresses.

As for the debate of the competent bodies, the judge is also clear. "It was up to the regional authorities to alert the population, agree on the relevant measures in the area of civil protection, guarantee and minimise the consequences of the rainfall." This lack is, according to the judge, the "foundation of negligence with criminal relevance, gross imprudence."

"Long delay of Cecopio"

For Ruiz Tobarra, the call for the Cecopio at 5 pm "was carried out with a great delay, to which must be added [the fact] that the decision-making by the autonomous administration aimed at alerting the population took place with an even greater delay." The Cecopio - he continues - "is a coordinating body" in matters of emergencies with other administrations, but "this is completely independent of the decisions that can be taken in the field of civil protection by whoever holds not only the exclusive competence, but the possibility of carrying out the communication to the population of the protection measures." "In short, it was not necessary to have the agreement of up to the 29 people who made up the Cecopio. Simply, [it was necessary] to take the decision to warn the citizens that they could be affected," he adds.

Regarding the message sent, the magistrate points out that "the investigation must determine the reasons, so far unexplained, of why the population was not told to take shelter by going up to other areas, beyond the painful, late [and] incomplete, due to its content, message that was limited to asking to avoid.

The judge also rejects the alleged "information blackout" by the CHX on the overflow of the Poio ravine reported by the PP. "It cannot be alleged that the emergency managers of the Generalitat Valenciana were unaware of the SAIH [Automatic Hydrological Information System] or of the possibility of access, or in parallel attribute criminal responsibility to the president of the CHX, or to practically all the management or non-management positions of this body," she states.

Regarding the accusation of Salomé Pradas, Ruiz Tobarra points out that she had been assigned as the highest authority "the process of adopting self-protection measures for the population" and points out that Argüeso's statement is necessary given his "organic relevance and therefore decisiveness". The instructor rejects charging the other defendants in the case, such as the director general of Emergencies, a head of service, the deputy director of the Valencian Agency for Security and Response to Emergencies (AVSRE) and the president of the CHX.