The Plenary considers the appeal presented by the leader of EH Bildu against the decision of the Supreme Court to seat him back on the bench
MADRID, 17 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Constitutional Court (TC) has protected the leader of EH Bildu Arnaldo Otegi by considering that repeating the trial of the so-called ‘Bateragune case’ would violate the right to effective judicial protection of the Basque leader by violating the principle of ‘non bis in idem’, which prohibits trying the same person twice for the same facts.
Legal sources consulted by Europa Press have confirmed that the decision has been adopted by seven votes in favor and four against. They have specified that three individual votes and four concurrent votes will be issued.
The Plenary magistrates have endorsed the presentation written by the progressive magistrate Juan Carlos Campo who proposes protecting the leader of Bildu, understanding that putting him back on the bench for the ‘Bateragune case’ would mean a violation of rights. The sources consulted indicate that this decision opens the door for Otegi to claim compensation from the State by declaring his fundamental rights violated.
The court of guarantees has upheld Otegi’s appeal for protection against the decision that the Supreme Court adopted in 2020 to annul the sentence handed down in 2012 by the National Court (AN) – which sentenced Otegi and the other defendants to sentences of between 6 years and 6 and a half years in prison for a crime of belonging to a terrorist organization– and order a new trial.
The Supreme Court followed the criteria of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which determined that the AN violated Article 6.1 of the European Convention, since it understood the “legitimate fear” of the accused of a lack of impartiality on the part of the court.
Strasbourg established that the trial of the National Court did not comply with all the guarantees, as judge Ángela Murillo was part of the court, who had previously, in 2010, been removed for alleged lack of impartiality in another different trial for glorifying terrorism in the that Otegi was also accused.
In that oral hearing, Murillo asked Otegi if he condemned ETA and, given his refusal to offer an answer, the judge told him that she already knew that he was not going to answer him. The Supreme Court removed the judge, who served as president of the court, from the case, appreciating “prejudice” in her. The oral hearing was repeated and the former Batasuna spokesperson was acquitted in that procedure.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to repeat the trial, Otegi appealed to the Constitutional Court, which agreed to process the challenge, also agreeing to the precautionary measure requested by the Basque politician, thereby suspending the execution of the Supreme Court’s ruling until the case was resolved. Deep inside the affair.
The TC Prosecutor’s Office issued a report in which it was in favor of the court granting protection to Otegi, thus opposing the trial being repeated for the so-called ‘Bateragune case’.
The prosecutor understood that, by requesting reparation for their rights based on the ruling of the ECtHR – through the appeal for review filed before the TS -, Otegi and the other appellants were the ones who could determine what the “most appropriate” reparation was. . And they did not ask for a repeat trial.
