East General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), with Carlos Lesmes in front, or without him, but by the action of his two lieutenants, he is susceptible to get even worse.
Both, the president of the Disciplinary Commission since 2013, Wenceslas Oleaand the general secretary, Juan de Benito Benitez de Lugoa position that lacks voice and vote, they intend through a measure called extremely precautionary (urgent) that the Third Chamber, of Contentious-Administrative, of the Supreme Court annul this Tuesday, October 18 -the meeting of the sixth section is summoned to 9:00 a.m. – the agreement adopted last Thursday, the 13th, by which the oldest member of the CGPJ was appointed, Rafael Mozo Muelasto supplant for a few weeks -until the formation of the new CGPJ- and appoint the magistrate of the Supreme Court as president Francisco Martin Marincurrent president of said high court in substitution of Lesmes.
Olea, who is also a magistrate of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court, fifth section, the only vote against Mozo’s appointment agreement, against 16 in favor, has already warned that he would take legal action against the alleged illegal decision, the same as De Benito. And they haven’t wasted any time. Both have presented two appeals in which they request an urgent, very precautionary measure, for which the sixth section will meet this Tuesday urgently.
Ambition is not lacking for the members of the so-called GAL (Group of Friends of Lesmes). Because a very precautionary measure is so urgent that when it is adopted, the affected party is not even heard, in this case the CGPJ through its acting president, the magistrate and member Mozo.
It is probable that never before has a verb used by the Governing Chamber of the Supreme Court caused such a mess to the high court in its contemporary history as the one it agreed to put in the statement released on September 26 after the agreement of said chamber, instigated by Lesmes and apparently strongly supported by the magistrate paul lukemember of the fourth section.
“The Government Chamber takes note of and shares the report of the director of the Technical Office of the General Council of the Judiciary,” it said. He was referring to the succession report by which the general secretary of the CGPJ De Benito proclaimed president of the Supreme and CGPJ, when Lesmes resigned, the president of the First Civil Chamber, Marín Castán. Lesmes called for this agreement and the aforementioned Chamber wrote that it shared it.
But on the only opportunity they were able to examine the matter, 16 members voted in favor of following the usual succession -Mozo, older magistrate, had always been president of the Permanent Commission in the absence of Lesmes- and close the doors to Marín Castán, who, it must be said, only had to cross the sidewalk of Madrid’s calle de Marqués de la Ensenada to disembark at the CGPJ headquarters. And he gave up trying last Thursday the 13th, when Mozo called him on the phone and informed him that the Plenary was going to decide on the succession. And he chose him, that afternoon, against importing Martín Marín from the Supreme Court.
Clash between the TS and the CGPJ
“It is an alarming situation because a confrontation between the Supreme Court and the CGPJ knowing that the TS has already ruled when on September 26, in front of Lesmes, it said that it shared the succession on the part of Marín Castán,” said a magistrate consulted by this newspaper. “The Supreme Court cannot act as an impartial judge because the Chamber of The Government expressed its solidarity with the proposal by Lesmes, who brought that proposal behind the backs of the members of the CGPJ who elected him president in 2013. And the members of the Government Chamber, such as Lucas or Marin, now have to abstain, ” he added.
But not only them. There are other magistrates who have to intervene and who find themselves in a Awkward situation, according to Supreme Court sources. On the one hand, nobody wants to disavow the CGPJ. Some point out that the Governing Chamber of the Supreme Court should have been aware of the Lesmes succession plan but not share it.
In addition, some of the magistrates who will study the request for the most precautionary measure, as is the case of Jose Manuel Bandres Y Edward Espin, have asked this CGPJ to occupy a place in the Constitutional Court. Are they going to be the ones to annul Mozo’s appointment agreement as acting president and in turn give the scepter to Marín Castán?
Why stick your head in the substitution of the presidency of another body?
A prosecutor consulted exemplifies: “You are a magistrate of the Third Chamber [Wenceslao Olea] and uses his proximity to the companions who have to decide. You defend Lesmes, who is a colleague in the Third Chamber, to which he has just rejoined, and you are forcing the colleagues in the Third Chamber and the colleagues who form part of the Government Chamber to make a judicial decision in which they are judge and party, because they have to decide whether the Council should elect a member of the CGPJ or a magistrate of the TS. It’s a pulse. Without hearing one of the parties?“.
Turn defeat into victory
The appeals presented by Olea and De Benito, respectively, aspire to convert last Thursday’s defeat of 16 votes to 1 (by Olea, because De Benito does not vote) into a victory in the Supreme Court, forcing abstentions (neither the president of the entire Third Room, Cesar Toulousewill be able to participate by having shared the succession of Marín Castán in the agreement of the Government Chamber) and an unforced confrontation between the TS and the CGPJ.
And all this for what?
Related news
“I don’t understand the underlying reason. Not even if it exists. But at the point of decomposition of the CGPJ in which we are and given the personal situation of Lesmes, who resigned first on a deferred basis and then on a Sunday night he issues a resignation notice, As if a war had broken out, I’m afraid reason no longer rules. Let’s see if there is an imminent renewal and we put an end to all these nonsense,” a member consulted told this newspaper.
The granting of a very precautionary measure seems one of those nonsense given, as has been pointed out, that the decision supposes not hearing the affected party. The alternative would be to deny it and announce that the sixth section will rule on the merits later, let the moment pass, wait for the formation of the new CGPJ and make a declaratory sentence.