A Girona court suspends a trial for the first time in anticipation of the amnesty law being approved

The Criminal Court Number 2 of Girona has been the first to suspend a trial linked to the processes in anticipation of the amnesty law being approved. On December 12 and 13, four men were due to be tried for cutting off the AVE tracks in October 2018, during the protests organized on the first anniversary of the illegal 1-O referendum. They are accused of crimes of public disorder, attack, damage and minor injuries. They face four years in prison and fines worth 12,150 euros. But the defense requested the suspension of the trial, citing the future approval of the amnesty law, a request to which the State Attorney’s Office (the Government’s legal services) adhered and to which the Prosecutor’s Office opposed. The lawyer for the administration of justice (LAJ) has upheld the request because, “if the approval is successful [de la ley]would have made holding a trial at high material and personal cost useless.”

The defense lawyers, Montserrat Vinyets and Benet Salellas, recalled that the proposal for the Organic Amnesty Law for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia has already been presented in the register of the Congress of Deputies. The rule establishes, among other things, that “acts of public disorder, attacks on agents of authority and those materially related carried out in protests related to the secession of Catalonia” will be amnestied. The lawyers maintained that the case of their clients fits into these assumptions and that, with the suspension, it would be avoided “holding a long trial for facts that could later be amnestied.”

The State Attorney’s Office also requested the suspension due to the possibility that the approval of the amnesty law “implies the extinction of the responsibility of the accused”, and appealed to the “personal and material cost for those involved and the principle of procedural economy.” . The Prosecutor’s Office opposed the suspension because “it is requested based on a law not in force as of today, with possibly lengthy processing and an uncertain scope of application in relation to the facts of the case.”

The decree of the Girona court admits that the alleged cause for suspension “is not among the objective causes for suspension of accusations” and that “the amnesty law is at the beginning of its parliamentary processing and is not in force or applicable.” He concludes, however, that aspects must be taken into account in this specific statement; for example, which is scheduled for two days and would have “a large volume of actions and witnesses”, many of whom must travel from various points in Spain because telematic interventions have not been admitted. The resolution adds that a witness who for the Prosecutor’s Office “is essential” and whose absence was the reason for the third suspension of this trial has not been located. In addition, the Mossos d’Esquadra agent investigating the case remains on long-term leave.

The court indicates that, although the amnesty law “is not in force, it is in parliamentary processing” and includes in its current wording, within its objective scope, the facts that are the subject of this case. If the rule comes to fruition, “it would have made holding a trial at high material and personal cost useless.” For all this, and endorsing the arguments of the State Attorney’s Office, the official considers it “more sensible to postpone the trial date” with a time margin to clarify the legislative situation of the aforementioned bill, and agree on one again to on November 11 and 12, 2024.

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