The CGPJ reinforces the Barbate court investigating the murder of two civil guards by a drug boat

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has approved this Thursday to reinforce with another judge, for at least six months, the Courts of First Instance and Instruction numbers 1 and 2 of the Cadiz town of Barbate. The first of them investigates the death of two civil guards whose boat was hit by a drug boat on February 9. In a meeting held with the presidents of the provincial courts of Cádiz and Huelva, the two Andalusian provinces with courts most overloaded by drug trafficking cases, the permanent commission of the CGPJ has reported on a report from the Inspection that warns that the average load of work in these two judicial districts last year exceeded the limit established by the Council by 34.2%. The only exception was precisely that of Barbate, where the load was 96.4%, slightly below the maximum recommended load.

The reinforcement of the Barbate courts will consist of the assignment to those two courts of the substitute judge María Eulalia Chanfreut, who was already working in them, covering a sick leave, but now remains in support of the main judge. This measure aims to serve to unblock a situation that the Barbate judges described as “worrying” in a letter sent on February 14 to the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) and to which EL PAÍS has had access. “This situation of work overload, especially in the criminal order, is impossible to alleviate with a single judge at the head of the court, being necessary, and this is my request, the appointment of a support/reinforcement judge,” explains the judge. María Fernández Nimo. The CGPJ and the Ministry of Justice have responded to this request, which already has economic authorization from the Government for six months, renewable.

The report on the situation of the courts of Cádiz and Huelva was presented this Thursday before the presidents of both Courts and the senior judges of the area. The study focuses on the judicial districts of Barbate, La Línea de la Concepción and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in Cádiz, and those of Ayamonte and Moguer, in Huelva. All of them, except Barbate, exceed the workload indicators established by the CGPJ.

The pendency in all bodies is high: 945.5 cases in civil matters last year – higher than the national average, which was 765.4 – and 774.4 in criminal matters, doubling the national average of 374.2. The Council's technicians warn that this accumulation of matters is not a consequence of the “lack of dedication or poor performance” of the courts, which also exceeds the established indicators (172.6% in 2023).

The report proposes several measures to respond to these problems, such as unifying the judicial districts of Algeciras, La Línea de la Concepción and San Roque; create a new Court of First Instance and Instruction in Moguer and Sanlúcar de Barrameda; and adopt extraordinary reinforcement measures, such as the one approved for Barbate, in the judicial bodies of La Línea de la Concepción, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Ayamonte and Moguer.

But the CGPJ is also committed to legislative reforms; among them, one that the Prosecutor's Office has long claimed: the modification of article 65.1ºd) of the Organic law of judicial power so that the National Court takes on drug trafficking cases when they are “of special gravity” without the need for them to “produce effects in places belonging to different provinces.” Currently, central courts investigate drug trafficking crimes committed by organized groups, but only when they produce effects in different provinces, not those that operate in a single province, not even when the network extends abroad.

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