Different judges associations have questioned both Carmen Lamela's promotion from the National Audience court to the Supreme Court and the allegedly fraudulent allocation of a training place as a public prosecutor to Sofía Marchena, daughter of magistrate Manuel Marchena, president of the second chamber of the Supreme Court which is to hear the trial of the Catalan independence supporters and which includes judge Pablo Llarena.
As in any good story there are, apparently at least, too many strange details appearing. Lamela was the first judge to hear the case against the Catalan independence movement, the one who sent the Jordis (Sànchez and Cuixart) to prison, the one who also first ordered pretrial detention for Junqueras and the seven ministers and the one who issued the first failed extradition warrant against president Puigdemont and the ministers in exile in Belgium. Now, still before her court is the case against major Trapero and the superintendent Laplana, accused of belonging to a criminal organisation.
Also caught up in the case of prosecutor Marchena is the director of the Judges' School, Gema Espinosa, who is married to judge Llarena. Such coincidences have led various judges organisations to denounce Lamela's nomination by the General Council of the Judiciary and the "fraudulent" allocation of a Sofía Marchena's place.
Given what has happened over these months and the leading public roles of all those involved in the state's operation to dismantle the independence movement, it doesn't seem to be an exaggeration to ask if we're talking about the merits of those promoted or about favours. It should be made crystal clear that it's the former and, as such, the appropriate explanations have to be given, including in the Congress. At this time, the alarm has already gone off and silence won't be enough.