The Judiciary begins to act in the face of judges’ insults to left-wing politicians

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has begun to take steps to take disciplinary action against members of the judicial career for insults and outbursts against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, his wife and other left-wing politicians, such as former minister Irene Montero. . The Promoter of Disciplinary Action, a position within the governing body of judges, has recently opened information proceedings against Commercial Judge Manuel Ruiz de Lara, a repeat offender in his offenses against Sánchez on his social networks and whom the previous CGPJ rejected sanction. Investigations have also begun into the judge of the National Court Eloy Velasco, who went so far as to say in a talk that the former Minister of Equality and current MEP of Podemos gives lessons “from her Mercadona ATM.”

The opening of information proceedings is only a first step, which may or may not lead to the opening of a disciplinary file and a hypothetical sanction. They are opened every time a complaint is received – about 600 a year. However, the sources consulted maintain that the “speed” with which the body has acted in both cases points to a certain change in trend in the way of proceeding with this type of disqualifications in the new mandate of the CGPJ that began last summer.

The previous body, with a large conservative majority, refused to sanction judges like Ruiz de Lara, who called Sánchez a “psychopath without ethical limits,” the State Attorney General “personification of dishonor,” and the current Minister of Justice “a pathological lying servant.” , Felix Bolaños. Or Manuel Piñar, the judge of the ‘Juana Rivas case’, who insulted the Chief Executive and other members of the Government, such as former Vice President Pablo Iglesias, Minister Grande Marlaska or former Minister Montero.

He did so with the argument that it had not been possible to prove that they had invoked their professional status when they posted these disqualifications on their social networks – in which they appeared with their names and surnames and presented themselves as judges – and that they had limited themselves to making use of of their right to express themselves as mere citizens.

Then, the body even asked the legislator to review the disciplinary types contemplated in the law of the Judiciary in order to sanction this type of behavior. In the absence of an express regulation, the body determined that in order to comply with the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, two premises must be met: that the comment had a punishable nature—a “serious lack of consideration for citizens or institutions,” for example—and that at the time of doing so its author had “expressly” invoked his professional status to endorse his opinion.

However, members consulted believe that the thesis followed by the previous body was nothing more than an “excuse” and believe that there are sufficient legal instruments to sanction this type of conduct that, in their opinion, threatens judicial independence. “Independence must be claimed in every sense. The status of judge cannot be invoked only when it is beneficial,” maintains a member.

In fact, the CGPJ has sanctioned judges and magistrates for their public statements at events, conferences or even in the media without the need for that specific regulation. However, the argument given by the CGPJ in the archived cases of Ruiz de Lara and Piñar is that participation in social networks fosters a novel situation in which users intervene voluntarily, without being summoned by their position and that, for Therefore, it is at your discretion whether or not to enforce your condition.

Repeated insults

These new matters are now in the hands of the Promoter of Disciplinary Action, a position held since 2017 by Judge Ricardo Conde. His mandate expired when the previous CGPJ ceased, but He was elected again on December 18. The next step will be to launch the investigations, which include giving those affected the opportunity to make any allegations they consider appropriate. You will then have to decide whether to propose the opening of a file and forward it to the Disciplinary Commission or if, on the contrary, you file the proceedings, which requires the examination of the Permanent Commission.

In the case of Ruiz de Lara, the information diligence is motivated by two recent messages published on his X account—in which he no longer identifies himself as a magistrate—and which have already been deleted. In the first of them, published on December 14, he accused the head of the Executive of carrying out a “coup” by “attacking the judges.” In the second, on December 28, he publicly disqualified his wife, Begoña Gómez, by calling her “Barbigoña.”

Sources from the governing body of the judges consulted by elDiario.es explain that in the last plenary session, held on December 18, it was agreed to send the first of these messages to the disciplinary authority. This Monday, the Promoter agreed to open an investigation in relation to both comments.

Ruiz de Lara is not exactly someone who goes unnoticed in the race and is especially known in the associative field. He is the judge who was in charge of the Super League case for months and signed the controversial order that supported the frustrated project of Florentino Pérez and other soccer magnates. In addition, he is spokesperson for a minority platform for judicial independence that disseminated a guide against the amnesty through the CGPJ corporate email.

It is the third time that Ruiz de Lara faces a disciplinary procedure in the CGPJ. In June 2017, with Carlos Lesmes as president, the body opened a disciplinary file against him for supposedly not requesting compatibility to organize university debate tournaments. Then, the main judicial associations and senior judges from all over Spain asked Lesmes for explanations about the circumstances of this investigation, of which Ruiz de Lara denounced its secret nature, although the CGPJ always denied this. In the end, the file was archived four months later.

Attacks on Irene Montero

In the case of Judge Eloy Velasco and his comment about former Minister Irene Montero, the opening of the investigation occurred after the Promoter received several complaints. The magistrate, current candidate for the presidency of the National Court, assured that “Irene Montero will never learn from her Mercadona ATM, nor will she be able to teach others.”

This was his complete sentence, spoken during a conference on November 13 and for which the CGPJ is investigating him, as he announced. infoFree on December 9: “Suddenly they thought they were showing us the world. They tried to explain to us what consent is… To a jurist, who has known what consent is since Roman Law. And the express, and the tacit consent, and the consequent acts. And a thousand more things that Irene Montero will never learn from her Mercadona cashier, nor will she be able to teach the rest of us.”

This Monday, he published another message on With final exam and everything. I’m sure he’s going for 10.”