Fernando Grande-Marlaska
Cádiz | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez 26 July 1962 Bilbao, Spain |
Spouse |
Gorka Gómez (m. 2005) |
Alma mater | University of Deusto |
Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez (Spanish pronunciation:
Grande-Marlaska is a well-known judge since the early 2000s for his time at the Audiencia Nacional, where he tried several members of the Basque terrorist group ETA and he led the trial that followed the Yak-42 accident, among other relevant cases. He also served as Member of the General Council of the Judiciary —the governing body of the Spanish judiciary— from 2013 to 2018.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in
In 2003, he moved to Madrid as investigating judge of the district of the 36th Court of Inquiry.[2]
In 2004, he was appointed to the Audiencia Nacional as a substitute judge for Judge Baltasar Garzón in the Central Court of Inquiry No. 5, where he made his name at the national level, and was already known as an instructor in Bilbao.
Magistrate of the Audiencia Nacional
Until 30 June 2006, he was a member of the Central Examining Court number 5 of the Audiencia Nacional, temporarily replacing its head, Judge Baltasar Garzón. When Garzón returned to his post on 1 July 2006, Grande-Marlaska was assigned to the Criminal Division of the Audiencia Nacional.[2] He ran as an independent candidate for the General Council of the Judiciary (2006), but was not elected.[3][4]
In 2007, he took over from Teresa Palacios the Central Examining Court No. 3 of the Audiencia Nacional.[5]
At that time, he took up the most important case: the
However, on 22 January 2008, the Fourth Section of the Criminal Division unanimously revoked the decision to shelve the case, alleging that the judge had not exercised any diligence and had failed to defend the victims constitutional right to due process. Once the case was reopened, he called as witnesses the military leadership of the time, as well as former ministers Federico Trillo and José Bono, but exonerated high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense of guilt despite their having been reported on the poor state of the aircraft.[6] Finally, on 20 May 2008, he charged five high-ranking military commanders, including the Chief of the Defence Staff, Antonio Moreno, the highest military officer at the time of the accident, with 62 counts of serious negligence.[citation needed]
On 30 August 2007, he ordered the opening of an oral trial for insulting the Crown to several graphic artists. In June 2007, it was decided to close the case against four directors of Air Madrid for alleged fraud committed during the crisis that affected the airline in December 2006 and, in September 2007, rejected the appeals filed by the General Association of Consumers and Users and the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) against the car's filing.
On 23 February 2012, he was appointed President of the Criminal Chamber of the Audiencia Nacional, replacing Javier Gómez Bermúdez.[7]
On 29 November 2013, he was appointed as a member of the General Council of the Judiciary, at the proposal of the People's Party, by the Senate.
Minister of the Interior
In 2018, the President of
On March 14, 2020, the Council of Ministers approved the "
During the immigration crisis in May 2019, thousands of migrants crossed the Spanish-Moroccan border in Ceuta; Grande-Marlaska in turn announced a firm stance to "defend Spanish soil" by means of a reinforcement of 200 new Civil Guard officers sent over to the border, as well as the devolution of 2,700 people back to Morocco.[17] On the issue of unaccompanied minors who had made their way into Ceuta illegally, the minister supported in August 2019 the attempt to send them back "for their own benefit", considering that they were not vulnerable and the expulsion did not pose a threat to them.[18]
Controversies
Inaction on torture and police brutality
The European Court of Human Rights had issued by 2016 a total of eight verdicts condemning Spain for failing to investigate alleged torture and police brutality on detainees,[19] five of which happened under the custody of Grande-Marlaska.[20][21] According to lawyer Amaia Izko, who represented four of the victims "[...] we proved the judge did nothing to investigate or impede the torture and police brutality [occurring] while the detainees were held incommunicado. There are many more such cases. I have represented hundreds of people who denounced being tortured [by the police] while awaiting trial under judge Grande-Marlaska."[22]
According Izko's clients, Grande-Marlaska often ignored the detainees' claims with "an openly mocking attitude". Some of the claims also denounced rape/sexual assault and homophobic attacks. Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola, militants of
On 9 March 2021, Grande-Marlaska refused in the Congress of Deputies to declassify secret files that could reveal further incriminatory evidence pointing to the death of Mikel Zabalza as a result of torture while on Civil Guard's custody in 1985, following recordings with detailed internal accounts of Zabalza's death re-published by the daily Público;[26][27] the minister reminded instead that Spanish Justice has dismissed the case by now.[27]
On 7 March 2022, the minister dismissed accusations of police brutality following TV footage showing Civil Guard border officers battering and pepper-spraying a person jumping the security fence bordering on Morocco as he came down on the Spanish side, instead elaborating on the level of violence and injuries allegedly sustained by 60 guards during the attempts of the migrants to cross the border into Spain.[28]
Personal life
Grande-Marlaska is openly gay and has been a long time activist against gay bullying. He is married since 2005 to his longtime partner, Gorka Gómez.[29][30]
References
- ^ "Juez Grande Marlaska: "¿Un 'lobby' gay? Desde luego no en justicia"". XLSemanal (in European Spanish). 7 September 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ a b "Fernando Grande Marlaska: el juez vasco que procesó a Otegi dirigirá la sala de lo penal". 20 Minutos. 23 February 2012.
- ^ Mundinteractivos. "Grande-Marlaska se presentará como independiente a vocal del CGPJ | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- ^ "Grande-Marlaska asegura que mantiene su "ilusión" por formar parte del Consejo del Poder Judicial. La Verdad". www.laverdad.es. 26 April 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- ^ Jurídicas, Noticias. "El CGPJ nombra a Grande-Marlaska titular del Juzgado Central de Instrucción número 3 · Noticias Jurídicas". Noticias Jurídicas (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- ^ a b "Los familiares del Yak 42 no perdonan a Marlaska que archivara la causa por la muerte de 62 militares". El Plural (in Spanish). 7 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ "Marlaska sustituye a Bermúdez en la Audiencia" (in Spanish). 23 February 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ^ Gobierno de Pedro Sánchez Grande-Marlaska, el juez que plantó cara a ETA, nuevo ministro de Interior in rtve.es (in Spanish)
- ^ "Spain wants to remove barbed wire from border fences with Morocco". InfoMigrants. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ 20minutos (15 November 2019). "La retirada de las concertinas en las vallas de Ceuta y Melilla comenzará antes de fin de mes". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 March 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Adiós a las Concertinas en la valla de Ceuta". EL FORO DE CEUTA (in Spanish). 3 December 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "Marlaska elevará hasta 10 metros la valla de Ceuta y Melilla y retirará las concertinas". El Español (in European Spanish). 17 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Spain impose nationwide lockdown due to virus, closes all stores except groceries and pharmacies". CNBC. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Rendueles, Luis (15 March 2020). "Multas de 100 a 600.000 euros para quienes incumplan el estado de alarma". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Martín, María (19 May 2021). "Qué está pasando en Ceuta: claves de la crisis migratoria entre España y Marruecos". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ RTVE.es (17 August 2021). "Marlaska defiende la devolución de menores a Marruecos". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ "Ocho condenas del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos evidencian que la investigación de torturas es una asignatura pendiente de España". Amnistía Internacional (in Spanish). 25 June 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- El Diario(in Spanish). Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Tsavkko Garcia, Raphael (19 June 2018). "Not everyone is in awe of Spain's new progressive government". Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Media Network. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Torrús, Alejandro (14 February 2018). ""Hay una política de impunidad de la tortura en el Estado"". Público (in Spanish). Display Connectors, SL. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Court: Two Basque ETA terrorists suffered inhuman and degrading treatment after their arrest". Human Rights Europe. Council of Europe. 13 February 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "#Aztnugal A history of Torture in the Basque Country". Basque Peace Process. 9 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Court: Two Basque ETA terrorists suffered inhuman and degrading treatment after their arrest | HUMANERIGHTSEUROPE". 1 April 2019. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Unas grabaciones a altos mandos de la Guardia Civil demuestran que Zabalza murió tras ser torturado en Intxaurrondo". www.publico.es. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ a b LMCN/PAU (9 March 2021). "Marlaska dice que es la autoridad judicial quien debe decidir si reabre el "desgraciado caso" de Mikel Zabalza". ElDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 March 2021.
- ^ "Spanish minister defends police accused of brutality at Melilla border". the Guardian. 6 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ Fonseca, Óscar López (7 June 2018). "El juez conservador que destapó el chivatazo a ETA". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ^ "El juez Grande-Marlaska habla en El País del matrimonio gay y de su marido" (in Spanish). 11 June 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2018.