The high courts of Valencia and Navarre, those that most marginalize the own language

ValenciaFor more than 10 years, neither the Superior Court of Justice nor any Provincial Court of the Valencian Community has published a ruling in Valencian. This has been denounced by the Ecologist Association Agró, which laments that, along with Navarre, the Valencian Community is the autonomy where its co-official language is least used in the courts.

The entity, very accustomed to filing appeals and lawsuits against the administration, has obtained the data through an analysis of the CENDOJ, the websiteto be the first to investigate the PP corruptionAs an example of the marginalization of Valencian, the association has highlighted that since the year 2000, the social chamber of the TSJ has not published any. In the case of the criminal and civil chambers of the Provincial Court, it has located four, from the years 2001, 2003, 2009, and 2015. It also highlights the fact that the contentious chamber of the TSJ has not issued a ruling in the co-official language for 15 years and that the figure is not higher because a single judge, magistrate Luis Manglano, known for being the first to investigate the PP's corruption, issued 19 rulings in Valencian.

Basque Country and Navarre, also at the back

If we compare the Valencian high courts with those of the rest of the territories with co-official languages in the State, the data do not improve either, given that Valencian is only surpassed by the diglossia of the Navarrese courts, which, according to Agró's analysis, do not issue rulings in Basque at all. Also at the bottom is the Basque Country, where only 576 rulings have been published in Basque, 0.16% of the total. A slightly more positive situation is that of the Balearic Islands, where the percentage rises to 2.45%, with 3,788 rulings in Catalan. A better result is that of Galicia, with 9,586, 3.42%. Where the minoritization of the native language is least is in Catalonia, given that in this period 110,248 rulings have been issued, 8.09%. The figure is very similar to that provided by the radiography of Catalan in justice that was made public in 2022, according to which the rulings that are drafted in Catalan are less than 7%.

As an example of the marginalization of co-official languages in justice, Acció Ecologista-Agró details the difficulties it has faced in processing its documents in Valencian, to the point that in one case they had to request that their documents be translated upon realizing that neither the other parties nor the court itself seemed to understand the documents they were presenting. They also highlight that on one occasion they sent an appeal to the Supreme Court and that the court did not translate the proceedings, a circumstance that they consider to have caused them great defenselessness.

Changes in legislation

To correct this situation, on December 4, 2024, the new defense law came into effect, according to which judicial proceedings initiated in Catalan-speaking territories may continue in their own language when they reach supranational levels. In addition, courts throughout the State will have to provide translators "if the use of a language, especially the mother tongue or one of the official languages in the autonomous communities, contributes to guaranteeing the exercise of the right of defense".

Complementary to the modifications in state legislation, AE-Agró demands changes at the autonomous level and denounces the inaction of a Valencian government which it accuses of failing to comply with its legislation, which establishes that the Generalitat must promote the necessary agreements with the administration "to make effective the use of Valencian in courts and tribunals". In this regard, it also regrets that knowledge of Valencian "is not a criterion for the selection of magistrates operating in higher courts", a circumstance that is also not corrected by using computer tools such as translators.