The chief prosecutor of Toledo, Antonio Huélamo Buendía, denied having given the order to continue working to the prosecutor who was going to take medical leave for having a high-risk pregnancy. Specifically, the prosecutor declared that he “did not tell” his subordinate that she had to dismiss all the cases that she had pending even though she was on medical leave.
However, the audios revealed yesterday by EL MUNDO show that the prosecutor lied since he repeatedly ordered the sanctioned prosecutor on June 17, 2021, to continue working at home, despite being on leave, because “when someone has a leave, the work that has entered before the leave has to be done until it is dispatched ». He assured that it was the “norm” in his Prosecutor’s Office.
As stated in the statement that Huélamo Buendía gave before the investigating prosecutor of the Supreme Court, José Luis Bueren – in the framework of the disciplinary file that was opened against the prosecutor for unjustified delays in the processing of the procedures that had corresponded to him to resolve in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office de Toledo-, the chief prosecutor denied having pressured her to continue working under an obviously illegal formula. Huélamo Buendía appeared as a witness, that is, with the obligation to tell the truth.
During the interrogation, to which this newspaper has had access, the chief prosecutor of Toledo admitted that before his subordinate informed him of the pregnancy and resigned, “he had not reported any malpractice on his part” to the Tax Inspectorate, although He indicated that “he had spoken with her that there was an accumulation of matters.” However, he assured that before that day he “had not sent any communication to the Inspection”, a body dependent on the State Attorney General, in charge of compliance with the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
On the other hand, throughout his statement, the chief prosecutor stated that he did not remember having told the prosecutor that “his lot” had to be handled by two prosecutors, since it entailed an overload of work. On the other hand, during the conversation that both of them had one day before the subordinate went on medical leave, the prosecutor admitted having said the following: “It is a lot that is too heavy for a single prosecutor to handle.” Then, the pregnant prosecutor pointed out that it was a lot of issues that “could not be handled by a single person”, to which his boss replied “yes” but told him that “it was not his fault that a global pandemic was coming”. in reference to the fact that at first this work assignment was made provisionally before the Covid-19 health crisis broke out.
In July 2021, when the prosecutor was already on medical leave (she left without dispatching pending matters) her boss informed the Fiscal Inspection, headed by inspector María Antonia Sanz, of delays in the processing of various judicial files on the pregnant woman. . On the 19th of 2022, the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, signed the sanction decree for a serious misconduct by the prosecutor, who was fined 1,500 euros. The aforementioned decree states that on the date of her discharge, the prosecutor had 28 civil matters and 168 criminal matters pending to be resolved, although she admitted that most of the cases had accumulated in the last four months (coinciding with the gestation period). .
The prosecutor then appealed the sanction imposed before the Ministry of Justice. In that appeal, he alleged “special discrimination due to pregnancy” and maintained that the fine imposed was “retaliation” for having refused “to comply with the illegal order of his hierarchical superior: continue working from home despite being on leave for a risk pregnancy”.
The Ministry directed by Pilar Llop dismissed her appeal and, consequently, the prosecutor has now challenged before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court the sanctioning decree signed by the State Attorney General. She requests that it be annulled.
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