Concentration against the withdrawal of the Cross of the Fallen in Cáceres last March. /
The court asks five mayors of the province to testify as witnesses, including Luis Salaya, to say if they have received pressure from the institution to eliminate the Francoist vestiges
The second section of the Provincial Court of Cáceres has considered an appeal from the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers in which it opposed the file of the complaint for prevarication against the president of the Diputación, Carlos Carlos Rodríguez, for the removal of crosses from the fallen in the province. In an order dated May 6, the Court, in addition to reopening the case, asks the investigating court to take statements as witnesses from five mayors of the province to find out if they have received pressure, including that of Cáceres, Luis Salaya. The others are those of Gargüera de la Vera, Brozas, Talaveruela de la Vera and Barrado, all of them towns to which the Diputación would have requested the removal of Francoist crosses.
Christian Lawyers accuses the president of the Diputación of a crime of prevarication with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination and another hate crime, for conditioning certain aid to the removal of the crosses. The Court of Instruction number 3 of Cáceres opened proceedings and then filed the complaint in February of this year with the argument that “the documentation sent by the Diputación de Cáceres does not show the existence of any action on the part of the investigated [Carlos Carlos] tending to link the connection of subsidies to the withdrawal of the existing crosses in the respective municipalities».
The judge also indicated that the committee of experts commissioned by the Provincial Council to prepare the catalog of Francoist vestiges of the province sent various letters to the municipalities in which “it respects the competence that the respective local corporation has to prepare the catalog of Francoist vestiges and comply with the provisions of the Historical Memory Law, emphasizing the merely advisory nature of the committee.
However, the Provincial Court now revokes that resolution and accepts the appeal of Christian Lawyers, to which the Public Prosecutor joined, considering it necessary to take a statement from five mayors to whom it is known that documents have been sent regarding the withdrawal of the crosses, including Luis Salaya.
The Court indicates in its order that the committee of experts “takes a clear position in favor of the suppression of the symbols included in said catalog, praising the respective city council when it acts according to its indications and making specific proposals.” It also clarifies that it is not a criminal matter to analyze whether these recommendations are in accordance with the law, but that the fact that the Provincial Council obliges the elimination of Francoist symbols “conditioning the economy of the municipalities, linking to the fulfillment of the ‘proposals’ of the commission the perception of certain financial aid».
The order concludes that, since “in good logic the clumsiness of leaving a written record of criminal conduct is not foreseeable, several political leaders of the province should be taken as witnesses »who would be alleged recipients of these pressures«. It will be later when, according to the Court, it will be possible to decide »if there are indications that justify the taking of statements as investigated persons who have revealed themselves responsible for such actions«, or on the contrary, definitively file the proceedings if those indications are found. discard.
Paralyzation
The president of Christian Lawyers, Poland Castellanos, celebrates that “the Justice investigates the case.” She asks that “all demolitions of crosses in the province be paralyzed since the person responsible for them is being investigated for this reason.” Castellanos assures that “what the Cáceres Provincial Council is doing is one more example of how rulers of secularist parties use any excuse to put an end to Christian symbols.”
He recalls that “the Diputación de Cáceres has allocated 100,000 euros for the preparation of a catalog of Francoist vestiges in contravention of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Extremadura 1133/2019, which made clear the incompetence of the Diputación Provincial de Badajoz for the creation of a committee that would such an inventory.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.