Three months have gone by since the Catalan pro-independence prisoners were pardoned and the issue has still not been fully digested, at least in Madrid. Today it was Spain's top judge who took advantage of his speech at the ceremonial opening of the new judicial year to level a criticism - not mentioning names but targeting the Spanish government - and asserted that the Sánchez executive's use of this constitutional provision questions the "independence" of judges when they decide their sentences. Judge Carlos Lesmes - president of both the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary - reflected on the "independence" of the judiciary and said that this reflection is "more necessary than ever" when "the job of the judges and their independence is called into question" by some political offices "especially when judicial decisions are opposed to their designs, hinder their strategies or are simply not to their liking”.
At this point, the president of the judiciary's governing organ specifically gave the example of the pardons for the Catalan political prisoners. To explain the granting of the pardons, said Lesmes, "it was even taken as far as drawing a contrast between concord and resentment, as if the action of justice in applying the law which we all must obey was an obstacle to social coexistence or was due to reasons other than those provided for in the regulations”, he stated.
The president of the Supreme Court refuted any such arguments: “Nothing could be further from the truth. The role of judges does not correspond in any way with ideas of revenge or a sense of resentment". He remarked that judicial decisions are based on laws "that have been democratically approved and that, therefore, express the will of the majority".
"Justice is not, and never has been, an obstacle to peace, but rather the fundamental instrument for safeguarding the legal order and peaceful coexistence among citizens," Lesmes underlined. Thus, he concluded with a strong defence of "the work of Spanish judges, and especially those of the Supreme Court, for their defence of the constitutional order and of our democracy, guaranteeing the supremacy of the laws and their compliance."
He spoke of the Catalan pro-independence politicians. On the other hand, not a word on former king Juan Carlos I, despite the investigations opened by Spain's public prosecutors. Neither Lesmes nor attorney general Dolores Delgado referred to it. The event was chaired by the head of state, Felipe VI, as usual.
The independence of the judges
Indeed, much of Lesmes's speech was focused on defending the independence of Spanish judges. Quoting a Metroscopia survey, Lesmes said that up to 99% of judges interviewed said they felt "completely independent". In this context, the president of the judiciary emphasized that this is also the perception of Spanish society. Reading from the same poll, he indicated that 94% of citizens surveyed consider that judges are today "fully independent".