Asens spent 32,000 euros public to review the & apos; case Puig Antich & apos;

The leader of the Catalan branch of Podemos in Congress, Jaume Asens, spent 32,000 euros from the coffers of the Barcelona City Council in trying to review the death sentence of Salvador Puig Antich.

The episode dates back to July 2017, when Asens held the position of fourth deputy mayor of the Consistory of Barcelona. Ada Colau's first term was running and the mayor had decided to give capital relevance to "historical memory" policies, regardless of the cost to the public treasury.

In this context of continuous gestualization, the partner of Pablo Iglesias ordered the legal services of the City Council "to carry out all necessary actions" to file a criminal complaint against the lawyer and military Carlos Rey for "drafting and signing the death sentence" of Puig Antich, who died executed by the vile club technique on March 2, 1974. "We took this initiative because the Prosecutor's Office does not do it," Asens defended when announcing the filing of the complaint, which eventually reached the courts in November of 2018.

The Directorate of Legal Services of the Barcelona City Council complied with the Asens order and awarded the reputable law firm Molins & Parés the preparation and presentation of “a criminal complaint for alleged crimes committed in the criminal process in which Salvador Puig Antich was sentenced to death »For an amount of 32,065 euros, as stated in the contract to which EL MUNDO has had access .

The hiring of this firm had been suggested by Asens himself, who did not want to entrust the lawyers of the City Council the task, but to entrust it to external lawyers, with the consequent added cost for the municipal Budget. "We understand that the study and direction of the criminal action and all the actions related to the lawyer Marc Molins and his team must be commissioned for his proven professionalism and experience in these matters," said the councilor for the commons in a letter sent to the legal services of the Consistory on July 6, 2017 and that is held by this newspaper.

The then deputy mayor of Barcelona said that "one of the main lines" of his tenure as mayor consisted of "restoring deviations or violations of human rights", "restoring the action of Justice" and "redoing the actions carried out in the past that have affected and still affect family members of the victims of the late-Franco period both in their honor and in other aspects that are legally possible ».

Despite Asens' efforts, the complaint was not admitted for processing . This was determined by the investigating court 9 of Barcelona after the Prosecutor issued a report on April 10, 2019 in which he opposed the arguments defended by the Barcelona City Council.

The Public Ministry considered that the complaint could not be accepted for a case against humanity because it cannot be applied retroactively and concluded that the facts would have prescribed. The Prosecutor's Office also recalled the amnesty law of 1977.

Asked by this newspaper, the Barcelona City Council said that it has filed an appeal before the Barcelona Court and is pending resolution. Even with Asens outside the Cabinet of Colau, the Consistory continues with its judicial fight.

The complaint about Puig Antich's death sentence was the first case related to Franco's crimes that the Barcelona City Council brought to justice on its own initiative. He also appeared in the complaint against the aerial bombings suffered in Barcelona between 1937 and 1939, and in the case for the Francoist crimes in Buenos Aires.

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