The associations of judges and prosecutors who have called for a three-day strike — July 1, 2, and 3 — against the reforms announced by the government regarding access to both careers and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, considering them an attack on the Rule of Law, have estimated the participation during this first day, up to 1:00 p.m., at 75%.
In Galicia, dozens of trials have been forced to be suspended due to the absence of prosecutors and judges in the four provinces, with a significant impact ranging from cases in the Cidade da Xustiza in Vigo, through various courts in A Coruña and Santiago, to prisons in Lugo.
For example, the strike of the judge and prosecutor of the Criminal Court No. 1 of Lugo has led to the suspension of the trial for sexual assault against a man accused of groping a woman in the stands of the Anxo Carro stadium. Similarly, the first section of the Provincial Court of A Coruña has suspended the trial against a man accused of attempted murder of his mother.
At a press conference, spokespersons from the Professional Association of Magistrates (APM), the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV), the Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), the Association of Prosecutors (AF), and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF) reported on the strike, excluding Judges for Democracy (JJpD) and the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF).
This is the only data available as the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) does not consider the strike called, believing it lacks legal basis, and will not count. Likewise, the Attorney General’s Office (FGE) adhered to the agreement reached by the CGPJ Plenary last week and will not provide figures.
The Ministry of Justice, as the payer of judges and prosecutors, has requested both institutions to inform it, before 2:00 p.m. each day of the strike, of the magistrates who do not attend their workstations in order to deduct strike days from their salary, to "ensure the proper use of public funds," as reported by ministerial sources.
It was on June 17 when the five associations announced the strike, offering to call it off if the government withdrew the reforms, which the Ministry of Justice rejected, as it had already informed them in a meeting held earlier on June 4 with Secretary of State Manuel Olmedo.
With the strike already announced, Bolaños conveyed in a letter that the reforms are "essential to address the challenges of Justice in the 21st century" and to update the "structures that have not been substantially modified since the second half of the 20th century and, in some cases, since the 19th century."
LAS ASOCIACIONES ALERTAN DEL "RIESGO DE SELECCIÓN IDEOLÓGICA"
The associations warn that the announced reforms will undermine judicial independence and, with it, the Rule of Law. Among their main criticisms are the "risk of ideological selection of future judges and prosecutors" and that there will be "a reduction in the excellence of knowledge in accessing the judicial and prosecutorial careers, eliminating essential content for training and introducing more subjective and leak-prone tests."
Regarding the reform of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to adapt it to the change from judges to investigating prosecutors, the five associations warn that "the competences of the Attorney General of the State are intended to be increased, who, as the head of all prosecutors, including the future investigating prosecutors that are to be created, will continue to be appointed by the Government without any prior filter" and without sufficient checks and balances.
Bolaños, for his part, has stated that the fears expressed by the associations of judges and prosecutors are "unfounded," while also describing as normal the reluctance of a sector that, he says, has always resisted change.
"All the significant reforms that have been carried out in Justice, in the history of democracy — the Organic Law of the Judiciary of ’85, the Civil Procedure Law of 2000, or the Gender Violence Law of 2004 — were received with suspicion, reluctance, rejection, and opposing opinions," and "today they are widely accepted," he said in Congress.