A Manifesto in Favor of the Right to Decide
A group of 14 of the Catalan judges, whose ID photographs were made public in 2014 for having signed a manifesto in favor of the right to decide, have filed a complaint with the Superior Prosecutor of Catalonia. Although the case was filed by the Spanish justice system, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in their favor.
New Revelations and Complaints
With new revelations about the origin of the leak, the judges have denounced members of the so-called patriotic police, such as commissioners José Manuel Villarejo and Eugenio Pino. According to the letter advanced by La Vanguardia and to which the ACN has had access, the 14 complaining judges frame the events in the Catalonia operation.
Evidence Presented by the Judges
Among the new evidence presented by the judges in favor of the right to decide, there are some recordings made by Villarejo that they became aware of two weeks ago. In the audios, recorded by the former commissioner himself, he can be heard conversing with Pino and the then head of the information brigade of the Spanish police in Catalonia, Pedro Esteban. The magistrates attach the audios as evidence, in addition to several notes from Villarejo’s diaries because they refer to the leaking of his ID photos.
Compromising Converses
The letter transcribes the conversation between these three high command of the Spanish police who speak of the intention of the affected judges to denounce the leak and of their intention to find the origin of the photos. Pino warns his colleagues and tells them that if anyone asks them about the photos, just say that they received verbal and direct orders from the top police chief in Catalonia because since the judges had ruled in favor of the right to decide they had to be investigated.
Order to Reopen the Investigation File
At the end of last December, the Supreme Court ordered the Spanish Data Protection Agency to reopen the investigation file on the illegal leakage of data. The European court held that the right to privacy of the judges and magistrates who appeared in the article published in March 2014 in the newspaper La Razón under the title The conspiracy of the 33 sovereign judges had been violated.