The judge in the DANA case requests that Carlos Mazón be charged.

ValenciaJudge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, who presided over the DANA storm case, has taken the step of requesting the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community to indict Carlos Mazón for manslaughter, negligent injury, and failure to provide assistance due to his handling of the DANA storm, which she described as "negligent inaction." This decision elevates the case to the regional court, which will have to decide on the future of the former president, who retains his protected status as a member of the Valencian Parliament. If the High Court accepts the judge's arguments, Mazón will join former Minister of Justice and the Interior Salomé Pradas and her former deputy, Emilio Agüero, who are the only other defendants in the case so far.

In a lengthy 109-page document, to which ARA has had access, the judge states that the Generalitat's "negligence" continued "for long hours" despite the fact that deaths "were occurring relentlessly" and without "basic decisions being made" to protect the lives of the 230 people who died in the Valencian Community alone. Ruiz Tobarra asserts that Pradas and Argüeso cannot be held "solely" responsible for this inaction, and also includes Mazón for the lack of "coordination" within the regional administration—a task that the law entrusts to the head of the Consell—as the Provincial Court of Valencia pointed out a few months ago, an argument that has underpinned the recent interrogations of the former president's top aides and which has ultimately proven crucial.

The magistrate believes that the gravity of the situation "required the president's involvement" and that he "contacted the regional minister," whom, she emphasizes, Mazón chose despite her complete lack of knowledge of emergency procedures, as Pradas admitted in her statement as a defendant. In this regard, she complains of the "flagrant lack of coordination and cooperation" between the regional ministries, for which she again holds the head of the regional government responsible. This task falls within the "proper duties of the president," she emphasizes. In the harshest section of the ruling, the judge denounces that "faced with an extremely serious situation," the PP leader "opted for a passive attitude" and "secluded himself in a private room at a restaurant" for "almost five hours." Furthermore, she finds a "causal link" between the president's inaction, his lack of coordination, and the deaths recorded as a result of the "failure to issue warnings." "We would be facing evidence of absolute negligence in the coordination and management of the emergency," he summarizes.

Ruiz Tobarra also bases her decision on the messages exchanged on the afternoon of the disaster between Mazón's former chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca, and Salomé Pradas. In this conversation, the former high-ranking official instructed the then-regional minister not to impose a lockdown on the population. Specifically, he told her: "No lockdown, Salo." According to the investigating judge, this expression has "a clearly imperative character," and Cuenca's position as Mazón's right-hand man makes his messages "orders" and not "mere opinions or advice," as the former chief of staff has argued in his testimony. For the judge, Cuenca showed "an insistence on controlling the emergency that can only logically be explained by him obeying instructions from his superior." In this regard, she points out that his words "generated a paralysis at the decisive moments" that was key "in the deadly outcome of the emergency management." Furthermore, she recalls that Cuenca told Pradas that the president would arrive in a few moments, a remark that, according to the magistrate, was "a way of telling him to wait for Mazón's arrival" before making a decision.

The statement of Mazón's driver

Ruiz Tobarra's decision comes after the testimony of the former head of the Valencian government's driver, who on Friday confirmed the falsity of the multiple versions that the PP leader and his team offered regarding their handling of the disaster, and especially regarding his arrival at the Palau de la Generalitat and the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI). According to sources present at his appearance who spoke to ARA, the driver stated that the first ES-Alert – 8:11 p.m. – sounded while Mazón was heading to the Emergency Coordination Center, located in the metropolitan town of L'Eliana, and before he had even left the city of Valencia. The driver's account coincides with the version given by the bodyguards on February 9, who placed the PP leader's arrival at the Palau at 7:50 p.m. "He was alone. He went up to the office and said, 'I'll be right down and we'll leave,'" they explained. This also coincides with the testimony of the head of the security detail, who admitted that it was "exceptional" that he returned from the El Ventorro restaurant without security. "The most normal thing is for him to tell us his pick-up time," he summarized. Conversely, Josep Lanuza, advisor to former Valencian president Carlos Mazón, stated on Monday that the former head of the Consell arrived at the Palau on the day of the DANA storm "between 7:30 and 7:42 p.m." This version suggests that Mazón was, albeit for a very brief period of 25 minutes, monitoring the flooding in his office. The testimony of the driver and the bodyguards would corroborate Mazón's lies, who initially denied being at a lunch and claimed he had been working in his office since early afternoon. Later, he admitted to having lunch with journalist Maribel Vilaplana at the restaurant, but maintained that he returned to the Palau around 6:00 p.m. and joined the Cecopi (Emergency Coordination Center) shortly after 7:00 p.m. Later, he delayed his arrival at his office until 7 p.m. It wasn't until November 2025, more than a year after the disaster, that it was discovered that after a nearly four-hour lunch, the former president had accompanied the journalist to a nearby parking lot. They reportedly said goodbye shortly after 7:30 p.m., and the former head of the Consell arrived at the Palau at 7:50 p.m. and at the Cecopi at 8:28 p.m.

"He should either resign his seat or the PP should expel him from the party."

After learning of the request to indict Carlos Mazón, opposition spokespeople have demanded that the People's Party (PP) force the former head of the Valencian government to resign his seat in parliament or expel him from the party. "After today's ruling, the PP only has one option left: to demand Mr. Mazón's resignation," said Joan Baldoví, spokesperson for the Compromís coalition. For the Socialist spokesperson, José Muñoz, the head of the Valencian government, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, must take action and demand Mazón's resignation. And if that is refused, he should expel him from the People's Party. For now, the party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has ruled out forcing any action. "Mazón already resigned some time ago. We will calmly await the decision of the High Court of Justice," he stated in remarks to Congress.

The Association of Victims of the DANA Storm of October 29, 2024, declined to comment on the court's decision, but reiterated that from the very beginning they consider Mazón to be "ultimately responsible for the political management" of the disaster. Furthermore, they maintained that responsibility does not end with Mazón, but extends to other regional ministers such as the former Minister of Education – now Minister of Finance – José Antonio Rovira, the Minister of Social Services, Susana Camarero, and the Minister of Agriculture, Miguel Barrachina. For its part, the People's Party (PP) declined to comment on today's ruling, and Vox refused to speak to the press.