The judge condemns Vox to reinstate the three expelled regional deputies

A sentence undermines the foundations of Vox in the Region of Murcia. The head of the Court of First Instance 4 of Cartagena has issued this Tuesday a ruling that forces the party to reinstate the three deputies of the Regional Assembly (Juan José Liarte, Mabel Campuzano and Francisco José Carrera) who expelled in June 2020 and, in addition, declares the nullity of the primary process that elected José Ángel Antelo as regional president of the formation.

The sentence is published just five days after the oral trial in Cartagena. The judge assumes the thesis of the prosecutor, who has already requested the reinstatement of the expelled parliamentarians. The head of the court understands that during the oral hearing “the violation of the rights of association and public participation of articles 22 and 23.1 of the Spanish Constitution” was demonstrated, as a consequence of the resolution issued on June 23, 2020 by the Committee of National Guarantees of Vox in which he expelled Juan José Liarte, Francisco José Carrera and Mabel Campuzano (the latter, current Minister of Education and Culture).

Therefore, the nullity of said resolution is declared «and all those that bring cause of this», forcing Vox to »reinstate the plaintiffs as party members with all the positions and rights they had before their expulsion« .

In the ruling, the judge dismantles the arguments that Vox gave to kick out his deputies. Mainly, the fact that national leaders of the party (among them the general secretary, Javier Ortega Smith) were withdrawn the powers to manage the bank accounts of the parliamentary group in the Assembly. In addition to the fact that this action does not appear typified in the Vox statutes as a serious infraction, the judge points out that the regulations of the Chamber clearly indicate that the public subsidies received by the parliamentary group are exclusively for its expenses and internal operation, “not having the party any authority to manage said funds.

The head of the court also considers that Liarte, Carrera and Campuzano had the power to fire workers from the parliamentary group, another of the charges attributed to them by the party.

flawed primaries

The fact of being expelled prevented the deputies from participating in the internal primaries to elect the president of Vox in the Region of Murcia, in which José Ángel Antelo prevailed as he was the only candidate who obtained the necessary endorsements to participate.

Now the Cartagena judge says that this process was “tainted”, because “the plaintiffs could not participate because they had been removed from the party.” Therefore, these primaries are declared “null”.

On the contrary, the sentence does not believe that Vox has violated the right to honor of the plaintiffs. Nor does it consider that there has been damage to the public status of Liarte, Carrera and Campuzano. The three continue to hold public office and even in the case of Campuzano, the judge points out, “her public status has improved” after her appointment as Minister of Education. Therefore, it is rejected that Vox has to compensate them, as they requested.

The resolution is not final, against it there is an appeal before the Provincial Court. Vox has 20 days to do so and must present a deposit of 50 euros.