Eleven magistrates fined for not reading appeal

23 January 2004

MADRID – Spain’s Supreme Court has fined eleven magistrates for not reading an appeal by another lawyer, according to judgment published Friday.

The president of Spain’s Consitutional Court, Manuel Jimenez de Parga, and ten other magistrates who sit in the same court must pay EUR 500 each.

The magistrates sit in a court which only considers alleged contraventions of Spain’s constitution.

But instead of considering a case before them, they simply filed it without reading the case in detail.

The case was an appeal by Jose Luis Mazon involving an alleged breach of constitutional rights.

The appeal related to the way that lawyers are chosen, but Mazon’s appeal was initially rejected so he decided to put his argument to the constitutional court.

In a decision published Friday, the civil division of the Supreme Court ruled that the magistrates had failed in their “civil responsibility”.

[copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news