The TSJCV maintains there is insufficient evidence to investigate Mazón over dana management

The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) maintains that there is "insufficient" evidence to investigate the President of the Valencian Government, Carlos Mazón, for the management of the catastrophic dana on October 29.

In this way, in a resolution advanced by LAS PROVINCIAS, the Valencian court has dismissed two appeals filed by an entity and an individual against its previous order on December 23, by which the full High Court of Valencia agreed to dismiss the complaints and accusations against the President of the Generalitat for his management of the flood.

In this new resolution, the Chamber agrees with the prosecutor's criteria and rejects the violation of rights claimed by the appellants, while stating that the evidence provided by them is "clearly insufficient and unfounded to apply the rules of jurisdiction associated with the privilege of immunity".

"Not only do they fail to grant the data provided the status of decisive evidence, but they also lead us to a highly complex investigation to delineate actions - the institutions and bodies involved as well as the individuals making decisions are numerous - and find sufficient indicative elements referring both to the criminal nature of the acts - and at this stage only the omission of the duty of rescue and administrative prevarication with some insinuation regarding homicide are mentioned - as well as the involvement in them, intentional or negligent, of the privileged person," the order specifies.

The judges maintain that it cannot be "absolutely ruled out the criminal nature of each and every one of the acts mentioned in the complaints and accusations presented," but explain that their dismissal "is based on the absence of sufficient evidence to attribute these acts to the privileged person and thus assume the special jurisdiction" legally assigned to the Superior Court.

The court specifies that the data in the filed appeals originate, "without any functional or other specification," from the position held by Mazón and are limited to identifying as such an alleged inaction of the president in response to alerts issued by Aemet since October 25; the untimely activation of the Special Emergency Plan for Flood Risk and the lack of request for national resources. He is also attributed the "late" alert to Valencian citizens.

In this regard, the TSJCV reiterates, as the prosecutor maintains, that "the principle of culpability for one's own act, which inspires criminal law in a democratic system, prevents objective attributions of criminal responsibility merely due to the position or role a specific person holds within an organization, no matter how erroneous or ineffective the decisions made may be considered."

And it insists that in this case "no indicative element is provided that possesses those characteristics of seriousness and robustness sufficient to apply the personal jurisdiction claimed."

In conclusion, it states: "At this point, and despite understanding that the parties may disagree with the appealed order, it must be concluded that no argument is presented in the filed appeals that justifies modifying the challenged resolution."

"Despite insisting on the committed crimes and the information provided, the lack of serious and well-founded evidence leading to the Chamber's jurisdiction remains, and consequently, as the prosecutor appreciated, the decision of inadmissibility and dismissal must be fully confirmed," it concludes.