The Madrid Court acquits controllers and Enaire for the 2010 strike

The Provincial Court of Madrid has acquitted the 131 air traffic controllers who were sentenced, in the first instance, to fines of up to 31,500 euros for abandoning public service during the December 2010 strike, as well as

e, who was listed as subsidiary civil liability.

In the sentence of more than 230 pages, advanced this Wednesday by El Confidencial and to which Efe has had access, the magistrates of the first section

, considering that the facts lacked of criminal relevance and that the evidence was not examined in an "exhaustive" manner.

In the first resolution, issued in October 2020, Judge Margarita Valcarce also recognized the payment of

by the closure of the airspace for about 20 hours, an amount that -she ordered- would have to be made charged the convicted jointly and severally together with the public company Enaire, as successor to AENA.

However, it acquitted two of those accused by the Prosecutor's Office, one of them the former spokesman for the Union of Air Controllers (USCA),

, who did not agree with the Public Ministry and who at the time of the events was on vacation in Asia.

That sentence considered proven that the defendants "adopted a

masse, thus paralyzing air traffic, and this under the direction of the members of the Board of Directors and union delegates. of the USCA union".

Likewise, he recalled that of the 133 accused controllers, 119 acknowledged in the trial the facts stated by the Prosecutor's Office, which maintained that

and the Government in a conflict that dated back to January of that year. , during the negotiations of the second collective agreement of the sector.

After accusing each other of negotiating without the will to reach an agreement, in February the Government approved a royal decree law that returned to AENA the management and control of air traffic, in the hands of the controllers since 1999.

The Prosecutor's Office defended that, as a result of this, "in a collective and concerted action in order to paralyze aeronautical activity outside of any collective bargaining or other legal means, they presented said document, written in their own hand, to the person in charge of the room and letter, in which they alleged a

to perform their job".

Now the first section of the Provincial Court of Madrid, chaired by

, reverses the court's criteria, understanding that its sentence "is not exhaustive in the assessment of the evidence."

In this sense, they refer to the conclusions of the magistrate, who understood that the bad faith of the controllers was proven, for example with the appearance on television of the group's spokespersons, who "offered apologies to the citizens for what they consider to be the reaction disproportionate".

For the court, this incriminating argument is based "on evidence that is still meager for the technical complexity of the situation, where

and expert corroboration", especially when the testimonies are produced from " opposing positions.

Moreover, he adds, the first instance assessed "the reality of abandonment" of the public service based on the testimony of witnesses who were "either directors of AENA, or directors or managers of operations in Torrejón or in the Barajas tower, so they had a

"with the public manager.

On the contrary, he disregarded the testimonials proposed by the accused "because he considered them labile, contradictory, imprecise and vague."

not motivated

The first section also ensures that the sentence of the Criminal Court "should have explained" the reasons why it considered that the controllers abandoned their functions, an extreme on which it

by directly validating the conformity agreement between the defendants and the prosecution.

The Provincial Court of Madrid admits, however, that it cannot be objected that the avalanche of disability forms presented by the controllers "seemed to respond to a measure of pressure against AENA and the Government as a reaction to the legislative measures".

However, the lack of attention "was not complete", since

, and "there was no lack of attention of all the flights", well yes that those referring to the Chicago Convention were operated, and "a whole list of regular flights to Madrid or that flew over the national territory".

Thus, for the crime accused by the Prosecutor to have been committed, "either the collective and physical abandonment of the defendants from the Torrejón and Barajas offices, or the complete neglect of the flights" would have had to have taken place.

Despite

as they had signed an agreement with the Public Ministry, the court also applies the acquittal to them as they find themselves in the same situation as their companions.

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