«Despite the special protection of the right to freedom of expression and the restrictive interpretation of its limitations, it cannot prevail over the right to honor, including professional reputation (…). The qualifications used and the opinion about the judge’s partiality are … clearly offensive and unnecessary to convey his opinion or critical assessment on the plaintiff’s action as a judge, therefore, lacking the requirement of proportionality ».
Thus, the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office is pronounced in the response brief to the lawsuit filed by Judge Manuel García Castellón against the deputy and leader of Podemos Ione Belarra, to which he asks that he condemnate the magistrate with 20,000 euros for calling him prevaricador.
In the brief, to which ABC has had access, prosecutor Lourdes Rodriguez Rey remembers that Freedom of expression does not understand an unlimited exercise, in such a way that the people on whom such censures, opinions or thoughts can be freely vexed, vilified (…) in their fame, prestige or self -esteem ».
This refers to the prosecutor to two texts that Belarra published on September 2 and 20, 2024 in the social network X. In one of them he said: «Today the BOE publishes the forced retirement of Judge García-Castellón. We said it months ago and now it was confirmed, this and other corrupt judges, which have prevailed against those who defend another idea of Spainthey will go from Rositas without any sanction thanks to the PSOE. Shame”.
In a second comment days later the deputy apostated: «García-Castellón did not feel to retire and continue the dirty judicial war against Podemos. Complain against me for telling the truth, that what he has done to protect the PP and to persecute to follow the political adversaries of the right, is corruption, with or without condemnation «.
“Discredit, discredit and disqualify”
In his opinion of the Public Ministry, these messages had no other reason than “discrediting, discrediting and professionally disqualifying the plaintiff on the occasion of his retirement.”
«There is no doubt that a corrupt, prevaric and partial judge for protecting a political party and persecuting the adversaries constitute objectively injurious expressions because the commission of criminal acts and the breach of an essential obligation to their functions is being attributed to him as is the impartiality; what is always insulting and disqualifying and, consequently, harmful to his honor », The prosecutor points out, who also remembers the great dissemination capacity of X.
“No description of facts, data relationship, except for the plaintiff’s retirement, consists of the publications, so it is understood that these lack the minimum factual base that can justify the interference in the sphere of the applicant’s honor in this specific case.”
Rodriguez Rey considers «excessive and disproportionate »quantify moral damage to the magistrate at 240,000 euros, Hence, consider the 20,000 cited enough. Of course, he asks that the plaintiff be published to publish the content of the full sentence (and not only the heading and ruling) “given the special condition of the parties (their public relevance), the object of the procedure and the dissemination that publications have had.”
#Prosecutors #Office #asks #Belarra #call #Judge #GarcíaCastellón #prevar
