A judge of Spain's Constitutional Court, Fernando Valdés, has been arrested by the Civil Guard at his Madrid home due to an alleged gender violence incident of which his wife was said to be the victim this morning, according to the digital newspaper El Español.
The digital daily states that the arrest of Valdes would only have taken place if the paramilitary officers who arrived at his home believed that a flagrant offence was taking place, given his partially-protected status due to his position on the Constitutional Court. The judge has been placed at the disposition of a Gender Violence Court, but the case will have to be referred upwards to the Supreme Court. Again, this is because he is aforado, a status which grants immunity from prosecution in lower courts and which is held in Spain by many thousands of members of the armed forces and the judiciary, along with political office holders, the royal family and others.
Fernando Valdés Dal-Ré, aged 75, is one of four members of the Constitutional Court whose positions should have been renewed a year ago, when their terms ended. A professor of labour law, he was selected as a Constitutional Court judge by Spain's Congress in 2012 at the suggestion of the Socialist party.
The arrest has caused the president of the Constitutional Court, Juan José González Rivas, to interrupt his summer holidays. According to court sources quoted by El Español, the Civil Guard arrived at Valdes' home alerted by neighbours, who reported a heated argument.
Despite the arrest, Valdés has already been released after appearing before a local judge, according to judicial sources quoted by the EFE agency. The judge in the Madrid suburb of Majadahonda decided to release him due to his advanced age, his state of health and the public health situation due to the coronavirus.
Second arrest of a Constitutional Court judge
Valdés is the second judge of the Constitutional Court to be allegedly caught in the act of a flagrant crime. The judge Enrique López was arrested in June 2014, intercepted by a municipal police patrol and charged with a crime against road safety. Lopez resigned immediately from his Constitutional Court role but at present is a justice adviser to the regional government in the Community of Madrid.