THE SPANISH court system ground to a halt yesterday when judges staged the first strike of its kind.
They were supported in their protest by their clerks, legal secretaries and other court officials. The 24-hour stoppage is a culmination of a long and bitter row between the judiciary and the government over understaffing. The judges say they need at least another 1,500 judges, and complain about a lack of money for modernisation of offices, many of which do not have computers.
The organisers say that more than half of the 4,500 judges supported the strike and many others took part in demonstrations outside the court building. The Audiencia Nacional, the court which tries and investigates major criminal cases – such as the current investigation into allegations of corruption involving members of the opposition Popular Party – continued its business as usual, as did judges conducting weddings or investigating violent crimes.
Juan Avila, a member of the National College of Legal Secretaries, denounced the dreadful working conditions in many courts. “Papers are piled up from floor to ceiling; there are even rats in some back places. We are blamed when a paper goes missing or when an arrest warrant is not issued. But our offices are full of sentences not enforced because there are insufficient staff to follow them up. You can’t expect a 2008 judicial system with 1880 facilities,” he said.
The judicial process is notoriously slow in Spain, with an enormous backlog of outstanding cases. There were some 2.4 million cases pending by the end of last year and the number grows all the time. On several occasions a sentence has not been enforced because the courts simply “forgot” to issue the warrant, often with tragic results.
Last year a child was murdered by a convicted pederast after he had been released following an earlier case. The judge responsible for this judicial error was fined €2,000, but the secretary was suspended without pay for two years.
Minister of justice Mariano Fernández Bermejo criticised the judges, saying he believed it was illegal for them to strike and called on them to be more responsible.
However, Popular Party (PP) leader Mariano Rajoy yesterday called for Mr Bermejo’s resignation or dismissal because of a controversy he is involved in.
The minister was a guest on a private hunting shoot last month when Baltasar Garzon, a judge investigating corruption allegations against the PP, was a fellow guest. Mr Rajoy said it was unethical for them to be together at such a politically sensitive time.