The Government warns that the Board of Prosecutors does not have the last word on Puigdemont

RAÚL PIÑA Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024-14:58

The relationship between the Government and Junts is a truncated path of stones. And some of them are causing stumbles and delays that were not in the initial roadmap. The decision of the Board of Prosecutors of the Supreme Court to endorse by a very large majority the opening of a case against Puigdemont for terrorism has not caused "surprise" in the Executive, but they warn that this is not the last word. That the final decision, the final report, is still missing, and they show their confidence that this verdict will go in the opposite direction, that is, that it can save Puigdemont from charges of terrorism.

"All the Government respects the Board of Prosecutors and the normal functioning of the Prosecutor's Office, and obviously also, in accordance with the organic statutes of the Prosecutor's Office itself," said Pilar Alegría, spokesperson for the Executive, after the meeting of the Council of Prosecutors. Ministers. And she immediately added: "The final decision, as you know, will have to be adopted by the bodies established by these regulations."

"Our respect for the legal criteria that have been presented today in this Board of Prosecutors, just as we will respect the final decision adopted by the Public Prosecutor's Office," was the complete reflection of the Executive spokesperson.

Government sources state that the decision adopted by the Board of Prosecutors of the Supreme Court does not surprise them, that it has not caused surprise, although they admit that the "final decision of the Prosecutor's Office cannot be anticipated." There is confidence within the Executive that the report that the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court will now have to prepare is in line with the opinion issued in its second text by prosecutor Álvaro Redondo.

As this newspaper has been reporting, this prosecutor wrote two reports with a difference of 72 hours: in the first, in which he saw clear signs of terrorism against the fugitive from the process and, in the second, where he ruled it outright.

"The final decision rests with whoever has it," reflect sources from the Executive, who without expressly mentioning it allude to the fact that the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court is a trusted person of Álvaro García Ortiz, Attorney General of the State. "We are talking about an advisory body and the decision is hierarchical," these sources add.