The majority of associations of judges and prosecutors have signed a joint statement in which they maintain that “the public naming of judges by the spokesperson for Junts per Catalunya in parliament is unacceptable in democracy.”
The Junts spokesperson maintained in the Congress of Deputies that the Supreme Court judges Pablo Llarena, Manuel Marchena, Carlos Lesmes and Carmen Lamela were “indecent characters who in a normal country would be dismissed and tried immediately.”
The Professional Association of the Judiciary, the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association, the Independent Judicial Forum, the Association of Prosecutors and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors underline their “firm commitment to the rule of law” and show their “deep concern about the attempted of instrumentalizing Justice for political purposes, delegitimizing members of the Judiciary.”
These groups describe it as “tremendously irresponsible” to convey to citizens the “false message that their judges act motivated by intentions unrelated to the application of the law. We defend the independence of the Judiciary, the impartiality and integrity of its members. The normal functioning of justice, through its appeal system, is a guarantee for citizens of a judicial power subject to the law and guarantor of their rights. The signatory associations will continue to be attentive in defense of the judicial power and the correct functioning of the democratic institutions that They are the basis of the rule of law that we must all defend.
This joint statement has not been signed by either Judges for Democracy or the Progressive Union of Prosecutors. From JJpD they have issued another statement where they reject “the public naming of members of the judicial career with their names and surnames that was made by the spokesperson of a parliamentary group in Congress” but they criticize the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte , for having come out in defense of the judges of the Supreme Court.
“The president of the CGPJ did not react in the same way when there was a real campaign from other parties and media support to discredit and point out Judge José Ricardo de Prada. No member of the CGPJ protected him for doing his job,” they indicate. “We understand that the president of the CGPJ should be consistent and not discriminate based on the member of the judicial career referred to or the party that makes the statements,” they add.