The recently announced as the new Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility Oscar Puente has granted an interview to eldiario.es in which he discussed, among other things, the ‘lawfare‘ in Spain. When asked if there were cases of legal war In our country, the former mayor of Valladolid has responded bluntly: “This is like the meigas; one may not believe in them, but there are some. There are undoubtedly cases of ‘lawfare’ in this country. And denying it is a gesture of cynicism. I believe that the Judiciary cannot cling to corporatism and say that there are no cases of ‘lawfare’ in Spain because There are, there have been and they are proven“.
Far from ending his statement there, Puente has targeted the Government delegate directly. Victoria Rosell: “Some [casos de ‘lawfare’] of High intensity and the clearest example was that of the Government delegate against Gender Violence. It is a textbook ‘lawfare’ case, but there are others of lower intensity that are very clear also and that have happened in this country”, he continued his speech.
‘Lawfare’ in Puigdemont’s accusation?
On whether to charge the MEP with a crime of terrorism Carles Puigdemont could be considered a ‘lawfare’ case, the Minister has said the following: “I believe that the procedure has not gone all the way until the end. In any case, we are not going to establish instruments of sentence review“.
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However, it has continued with a appreciation about it: “I also think that for our democracy and as a political power that we are, We have the right to be critical of some judicial decisions and also on the basis of objective facts and a certain review of decisions and how they have been taken. We also have that right. politicians“, he said. “I am seeing judges who give their opinion all day long about politics. I do not like it. It seems that the freedom of expression It gets there, but they chose a path that was to speak through their sentences. I believe that we are within our rights, especially to put our finger on certain actions that clearly have a certain political profile and a certain political purpose“, it is finished.
What is ‘lawfare’?
In the words of Puigdemont himself, ‘lawfare’ is nothing other than the “strategic use of laws to harm dissidents or political rivals.” To understand this concept, the current president of Brazil is often used as an example. Lula da Silvawho was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and disabled for the presidential re-election, a fact that paved the way for the triumph of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. Once in power, he appointed the judge who had convicted his political rival as minister, although the sentence was ultimately annulled and Lula da Silva regained the presidency.