Thursday, March 10, 2016

Power abuse in the Spanish Civil Guard and the right to an impartial judge

At least twice, Luis Z.L., a Spanish Civil Guard, attributed his wife's speeding to people who had died in recent traffic accidents (which led to the filing of complaints). Luis Z.L was discovered in an internal audit when he accessed the databases (on days he was off work) to consult data on the deceased to which he did not have access permission.

Now La Vanguardia reports, here, that the Directorate General of the Army condemned him to a year's suspension for abuse of power but the Supreme Court has ordered because his right to an impartial judge had been violated. The Superior Council of the Civil Guard that decided the case included a brigadier general who also participated afterward in the military court that validated the sanction. According to the Supreme Court, this constitutes a violation of the Civil Guard's rights and requires a retrial.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).