The Constitutional admits the appeal of two socialist deputies expelled by the president of the Balearic Parliament | Spain
The Constitutional Court has admitted to process the appeal presented by two deputies of the PSIB-PSOE, Pilar Costa and Mercedes Garrido, against the decision of the president of the Balearic Islands, Gabriel Le Senne (Vox), to expel them from the Plenary of the Chamber Autonomous for showing the images of several victims of Franco’s repression. The Court admits the appeal for amparo by considering that it has “a special constitutional importance” because it raises a problem and affects a fundamental right over which there is no court doctrine.
The episode in question occurred on June 18 of last year during the parliamentary debate on the repeal of the Democratic Memory Law of Balearic Islands. The second vice president of the Chamber, Mercedes Garrido, had placed on the cover of her laptop a photograph in which several republican repulsions of Franco appeared. Senne demanded that he remove it to guarantee the « neutrality » of Parliament, to which Garrido refused. Le Senne ended up starting the photo of his seat of a pull and expelled him with his partner, the second secretary of the table, the socialist deputy Pilar Costa.
Both deputies filed an appeal for the Constitutional Court against their expulsion last August, the requirement of withdrawing the photographs and negatives of the president of the Chamber to declare the fundamental rights of the deputies injured. In their appeal, the deputies affirm that he is « knew how to mention » or a single article of the regulation or any other rule that protects his decision and appeals to the « tradition » of the Balearic Parliament that allowed the exhibition of photographs or symbols in his computers without his withdrawal being demanded. The request of both deputies, who presented complaint in writing before the Board of Balearic Parliament, was rejected by the president at the Chamber table.
« The recurring deputies request the amparo in order to achieve the full equality recognized in their parliamentary function, through the recognition that the decisions appealed violated their fundamental rights, as well as that the nullity of the contested decisions is declared, » they maintain in the appeal. The Second Chamber admits the appeal and indicates that the case can have « general political consequences. » Therefore, it claims to Parliament that in less than ten days a copy of the plenary session of June 18 of last year, as well as the minutes of the Chamber Board and the Board of Spokespersons in which the complaint of the deputies for their expulsion was dismissed.
Criminal process
Last February, the Palma number 1 Court number 1 issued the opening of oral trial against He senne for a crime of hate And he claimed a bail of 40,000 euros to ensure the responsibilities that could be imposed during the procedure, which the ultra consigned in the court. The judge argued that he was sufficiently accredited, through images and testimonies of people who were that day in the camera, which Senne broke part of the folio that contained the images and fragmented in several pieces and threw to the ground the piece that had remained in his hand. « These actions not only undermined the memory of these victims of Franco, but also from their relatives, » said the judge in a car.
The Prosecutor’s Office requested the dismissal of the case by not appreciating crime. The case advances with popular and particular accusations. The Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain is the one that demands the greatest penalty, four years in jail. Among the four popular accusations demand fines worth 201,900 euros and compensation that total more than 150,000 euros. They also request disqualifications of several years to exercise public office. The Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands is pending to resolve in the next few days the appeal presented by Le Senne against the order of the Judge of Instruction for which it was agreed to continue the previous proceedings of the procedure.
