They admit that the reform of the Lecrim is complicated because there must be a balance between the time to investigate and that the instruction is not excessively long.
The Government maintains that the decision taken this Tuesday by the Board of Prosecutors of the Supreme Court, which advocates investigating the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont for a possible crime of terrorism, is not final and they have recalled that this is an advisory body and that the Decisions in the Prosecutor’s Office are decided by hierarchy. “The decision rests with whoever has it,” indicate government sources.
Regarding the possible reform of the Criminal Procedure Law advanced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to convince Junts to vote in favor of the amnesty law, they point out that it is “complicated” because there must be a balance between time necessary to investigate and that the instructions are not excessively prolonged.
The Government spokesperson and Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, has also indicated that she respects the resolution of the prosecutors although she has pointed out that “the final decision will have to be adopted” as established by the statutes of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
This was stated in the press conference after the Council of Ministers that was held this Tuesday in La Moncloa when questioned about the decision of the Board of Prosecutors of the Supreme Court, which has decided to overturn the report prepared by his colleague Álvaro Redondo.
In his report, Redondo opposed the TS investigating former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont for terrorism for his alleged involvement in the riots unleashed by Tsunami Democràtic in the fall of 2019 as a sign of protest against the ‘procès’ ruling.
In this regard, government sources point out that they have not been surprised by the decision adopted by the majority of the board of prosecutors and emphasize that this is a consultative body while the decision is “hierarchical” and “has it who has it” and therefore The decision of the Prosecutor’s Office still “cannot be advanced.”
In this way they refer to the fact that the final criteria of the Prosecutor’s Office will be set by the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court, María Ángeles Sánchez-Conde, who will be in charge of writing the new report to unify criteria.
In this sense, tax sources consulted by Europa Press indicated that, given that Sánchez-Conde’s work in this matter is to establish the definitive position of the Prosecutor’s Office, he may not follow the criteria set this Tuesday by his colleagues at the high court.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has stated on several occasions in recent days that in his opinion there is no crime of terrorism in the case investigating Democratic Tsunami.
LECRIM REFORM
On the other hand, Alegría has been questioned about the announcement made the day before by Sánchez, which opened the door to a reform of the Criminal Procedure Law to limit the investigation periods of judges.
In this way, the Government would try to convince Junts to finally approve the amnesty law, which asks for more guarantees that the law will protect all those involved, especially former president Puigdemont.
The spokesperson has confirmed that this matter “is on the table” but has avoided providing details on how it could be carried out, arguing that the details should be made by political parties and parliamentary groups and not by the Executive.
He has simply defended, along the same lines that Sánchez advanced the day before, the relevance of the initiative because “sometimes the instructions are lengthened.” He also says that the measure is “in line” with the measures approved by the Government and Congress “to move towards a more efficient Justice.”
ONLY PROPOSAL ON THE TABLE
Regarding this same issue, government sources admit that it is “complicated” to carry out this reform of the LeCrim because it is necessary to achieve “a balance” between judges being able to investigate and having enough time to do so, but that an investigation does not take longer. of a decade, as happens in some cases, as they point out.
They do not know, however, if this measure will be enough to satisfy Junts and they believe that those of Puigdemont, who have not taken a position at the moment, are measuring their words more because the decision to vote against the amnesty law is causing them cost.
In any case, they assure that the LeCrim reform is the only proposal that is on the table and other possible solutions are not being discussed. They also insist that the text of the amnesty law will not be modified nor will the Penal Code be modified to change the definition of the crime of terrorism.
