Even if the political cost is undeniable, the resignation of Miguel Angel Gallardo as leader of the PSOE of Extremadura after Sunday’s electoral debacle, this has no legal cost for the former regional secretary of the party, who clung to the minutes … as a deputy with the intention of maintaining his status for the trial in which he will share the dock with the brother of Pedro Sánchez. The judge Beatriz Biedma considers that as president of the Provincial Council (which he held for a decade until last June), Gallardo was aware of the staffing needs and the creation of new positions and that in fact not only do the emails incorporated in the procedure reflect a “close” relationship between the socialist and David Sanchezbut it was he who signed, on June 30, 2017, the resolution ordering his hiring as senior manager and who was aware of the subsequent transformation of the position into director of Performing Arts Office.
If Gallardo ever tried to walk out of court mid-trial so his case could move from Provincial Court to court, Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEx)with a maneuver described as “fraud of the law”, it is now assumed that with the new elections the desired capacity before the TSJEx has been guaranteed and who knows, in a double twist, he will not try to go to the Upper House as a regional parliamentarian.
The difference from the record hastily acquired a few months before this electoral call is that at that time he was not an autonomous deputy and to be one required a chain of resignations on the PSOE list for the province of Badajoz, in which he occupied position number 23. In fact, five people had to leave their seats so that Gallardo could access the Parliament of Extremadura. But now the socialist is assured of having a complete record by participating in these elections as number one.
Taking into account the fact that the Extremadura Assembly must be established no later than January 20, it is clear that Gallardo will obtain his report before facing the trial, scheduled for the last week of May after being postponed due to the coincidence of the statements of several of the defenses on the date initially indicated, early January. This means that it is possible that another court will take up the case. And the treatment of the aforado is not the same when one is an aforado and wants to stop being one (as would be the case of Ábalos) than the fact of not being an aforado and suddenly having this condition, since in the latter case the prosecution is guaranteed by the corresponding court, and the TSJEx is the competent one to judge the autonomous aforados.
In this sense, legal sources recall that initially in a non-competence agreement of December 2, 2014, the Supreme Court established the jurisprudential criterion according to which it is the resolution which consents to the opening of the oral trial which sets the moment when the jurisdiction of the court of first instance is definitively determined. By this criterion, Gallardo should remain in the Provincial court Well, in your case, that order for oral trial has already been issued.
However, the Supreme Court subsequently qualified its own doctrine and introduced “a very important differentiating nuance between the “loss” and/or “acquisition” of jurisdiction”. In this way, even if the punishable offense was committed before the acquisition of the status of authorized person, as is the case of Gallardo, the court that must investigate or judge the authorized person has knowledge of the case, even if the barrier of the resolution that consents to the opening of the oral trial has already been crossed.
Extremadura Senators
Now, after the new elections in Extremadura, this community must appoint an autonomous senator. For the moment, the socialist deputy Jorge Amado temporarily replaces the deceased. Guillermo Fernández Varabut the early calling of elections could change this scenario. What would happen in the hypothetical case that Gallardo takes on this role? For the same reason as explained above, if Gallardo were a senator, and still, on a theoretical level, his case would be brought before the Supreme Court, competent to judge the members of the Cortes, whether they are from Congress or the Senate.
In addition to the resulting delay in the procedure, the socialist’s judicial pilgrimage would pose another problem, since his movement could take with it those who are going to be judged, including Sánchez’s brother. Case law understands that the body responsible for accreditation “must extend its knowledge to those who are not accredited when the separation of processes involves a division of continence of the cause this entails the risk of contradictory convictions and makes it difficult to investigate and prosecute facts which should be analyzed jointly.
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