The Valencia Court orders Maribel Vilaplana to testify in the Dana case.

ValenciaThe Second Section of the Valencia Provincial Court has partially upheld the appeal filed by a private prosecutor and ordered that journalist Maribel Vilaplana, who had lunch with the President of the Valencian Regional Government, Carlos Mazón, on the day of the catastrophe for almost four hours at the now-famous El Ventorro restaurant, be admitted as a witness in the woman's criminal case.

The six judges who make up the court have overturned the decision of the investigating judge, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, who had repeatedly rejected calling the journalist as a witness, a refusal for which she had the support of the public prosecutor's office. Initially, the judge justified the decision by the fact that the journalist "would be linked to the location and actions of the president" and the fact that this would substantially shift the investigation to Mazón, a circumstance that was not possible due to his status as a member of parliament. This argument was strengthened in September after the publication of Vilaplana's letter. Ruiz Tobarra then reiterated that the former Channel 9 presenter's statement was "a direct act of investigation by the president of the Valencian Generalitat himself."

Regarding Ruiz Tobarra's objections, the Valencia Court has limited the scope of Vilaplana's future statement to what she may know "of what the president of the Generalitat said when speaking by phone with the then Minister of the Interior and Justice," Salomé Pradas, as well as the "comments" that the head of the Consell "had learned during the time he shared with the president on the afternoon of October 29, 2024, regarding the Cecopio meeting." In this regard, the provincial court emphasizes that "it cannot be ruled out" that the journalist "may offer details or nuances that are of interest to the investigation." "Her witness could offer information that only she, the president of the Generalitat, and their interlocutors could know," it emphasizes. In its decision, the court took into account the letter released by the journalist. The court notes that it cannot be ruled out that the journalist may "offer elements of interest that she did not mention in the letter she published" and that denying this possibility, as the judge did, "seems hasty." Vilaplana asserted that Mazón showed no signs of concern during the hours they had lunch together.

Carlos Mazón is out of the investigation, for now.

Another notable element of the ruling is the considerations made by the Second Section of the Valencia Provincial Court regarding Carlos Mazón. Regarding the appropriateness of his testifying as a witness, the six judges agree with the judge that the president of the Generalitat "falls outside the subjective scope of the investigation" due to his status as a person with special jurisdiction, but they clarify that this "does not prevent relevant and useful proceedings from being carried out." "For the time being, it is appropriate to move forward with the investigation [...] and only if the investigating judge detects the presence of reinforced, well-founded evidence of criminality against the president and, after the reasoned statement is presented, the High Court of Justice agrees with the judge's assessment, would it be necessary to extend [...] the investigation to him."