I could not agree more with the recent statements by the retired Spanish Supreme Court judge, José Antonio Martín Pallín, an authentic free agent in a world like the Spanish judiciary, in which there is only one truth about the pro-independence political prisoners and the Catalan independence process. In a series of forceful statements this weekend, the judge emeritus has pointed out several things: that a hypothetical pardon would be a mere palliative and that the only solution is an amnesty; that he opposes the reform of the offence of sedition as proposed by the Pedro Sánchez government, since the only correct solution is to remove it altogether and allow the offence of rebellion to remain alone; and that the Supreme Court trial of the Catalan leaders was blatantly partial, which will allow the European Court of Human Rights to overturn it.
Martín Pallín, who has just published a book entitled El gobierno de las togas ("The government of the gowns"), which is sufficiently evocative of the current situation and the weight of the judiciary in today's Spain, is just a drop in the ocean. The Felipe VI-Lesmes-Marchena doctrine has been porous enough to soak into almost every corner of the judiciary, where it is regarded as more meritorious than the intellectual strength of Martín Pallín, whose international prestige cannot be disputed.
One must ask, therefore, what has happened in Spain so that the dictator disappears, the democratic regime begins and no government ever dares to reform the judiciary. No government has really tried hard, apart from some minor flirtations by Zapatero and now Pedro Sánchez, who, in a show of false strength wanted to change the parliamentary majority required to elect the General Council of the Judiciary. The Spanish prime minister had to step back in the face of a well-orchestrated campaign by the Council, the judiciary and the right, which found the necessary support in Europe and its institutions, since in the end, the proposal was still a shortcut that simply reduced the number of deputies needed to change the judicial body.
And so it continues and will continue eternally. Martín Pallín will be a singular, prestigious and awkward character for his judicial colleagues. And perhaps, one day, he will even be regarded as more than a voice in the wilderness.