Judges and prosecutors threaten the Spanish government: "We do not rule out a strike."

BarcelonaMost judges' and prosecutors' associations, none of the progressive ones, have called for a protest this Wednesday against the Spanish government's plans to modify access to the judiciary and the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office. The five associations signing the call call for a 10-minute strike, starting at 12 noon, outside all judicial buildings in the country. The manifesto read by the organizers outside the court buildings warned the Spanish government: "We do not rule out a strike." Meanwhile, coinciding with the strike, Isabel Perelló, president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), warned that "judges cannot be degraded."

Protests have taken place outside courts across the country, with magistrates also gathering outside the Supreme Court and the National Court, including the president of the latter, Juan Manuel Fernández. In Barcelona, ​​​​some 150 judges and prosecutors gathered at the gates of the City of Justice, and there was also a protest outside the Palace of Justice, the seat of the Barcelona Court of Appeals and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), where the demonstrators claimed that the Spanish government's reform "undermines the independence of judges and magistrates." Prominent among those protesting was the former president of the TSJC, Jesús María Barrientos, who is a member of one of the associations that called for the protest, Francisco de Vitoria. Barrientos was replaced in his position just a few months ago by Mercè Caso, who has reclaimed the presidency of the TSJC from the progressive association Judges for Democracy (JJxD), which did not join the protest.

Among the prosecutors and magistrates who protested this Tuesday in Madrid, there are some who have handled high-profile cases or cases affecting the Spanish government. This is the case of the Supreme Court's chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, responsible for the indictment of former Socialist minister José Luis Ábalos, and Supreme Court judge Antonio del Moral, who was a member of the court that tried the Proceso case. Outside the courts in Plaza Castilla in Madrid, where a demonstration also took place, Adolfo Carretero, who is investigating former MP Íñigo Errejón and previously handled the mask case, was seen. Also outside the headquarters of the State Attorney General's Office were two Supreme Court prosecutors who participated in the Proceso case: Javier Zaragoza and former State Attorney General Consuelo Madrigal.

Following the strike, the organizers added that they are prepared to adopt "more intense conflict measures." In fact, a recently created association, the Union of Prosecutors and Judges, announced on Monday its intention to file a strike notice tomorrow, Thursday.

Coinciding with the strike, Vox deputies also left the Congress plenary session at 12 noon to support the demands of the associations calling for the protest. More than 100 people joined the protest in Madrid's Plaza Castilla, waving Spanish flags and shouting slogans against Pedro Sánchez's government and in support of police and civil guard unions. In Barcelona, ​​​​in front of the TSJC (High Court of Justice), around 20 people gathered to encourage the judges supporting the strike to "crush" the Spanish Prime Minister.

The Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, lamented that Vox and the far right "are trying to politicize" today's strike and expressed his "utmost respect" for both the judges who supported the strike and those who did not. Bolaños also recalled that "all" the significant reforms to the judicial system, such as the 1985 Organic Law of the Judiciary or the 2004 Law on Gender Violence, "were received with suspicion" but now enjoy "great consensus," and predicted that the same will happen with this law in a few years.

Isabel Perelló (CGPJ) warns: "Judges cannot be degraded."

On the same day as the 10-minute court strike, the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, Isabel Perelló, discussed the reforms planned by the Spanish government during a meeting of senior judges from across the country, where around 50 participants also joined the strike. should have never arrived." He also insisted that "the legislator's limit is respect for the Constitution," that he cannot "degrade the status of judges," and promised that the judicial leadership will be attentive "to the slightest hint of a decrease in judicial independence."

In fact, the Government Chamber unanimously agreed in which it pointed out "the widespread concern" that these proposals have caused, and endorsed the words of President Perelló, when during the presentation of dispatches of the latest promotion of judges, she stated before the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, that the current model of access to trial.

"Ideological selection" of judges and prosecutors

In front of the court buildings, the protesters read a manifesto signed by the Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV), the Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), the Association of Prosecutors (AF), and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF). They warn that judicial independence is "under threat" due to the announced reforms and criticize The changes that Bolaños' department wants to make to access to the judicial career to make it less elitist, legally protecting a scholarship system for opposition candidates. These five associations believe that the preparation center proposed by the government poses a "risk of ideological selection." The measure will be debated in Congress on Thursday, and soon received the disapproval of the leadership of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

Another reason for protest is the reform of the Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which could grant prosecutors the power to instruct and direct the investigation of cases, which until now corresponds to judges. They consider that it "unjustifiably increases the power of the Attorney General of the State without establishing counterweights." All while The Supreme Court's instructor has sent the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, to trial this week. for allegedly leaking a "confidential" email from Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner, Alberto González Amador. Other demands from these professional groups include opening job openings until a "sufficient supply" of judges and prosecutors is achieved, while threatening to challenge the announced process of stabilizing substitute judges.