The migratory pressure in Ceuta has led the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to reinforce the courts of the autonomous city: one judge will join the on-call service and another the Gender Violence service. This was unanimously agreed yesterday by its eight members of the Standing Committee, chaired by Isabel Perelló, after analyzing the report commissioned on the 5th to the Inspection Service.
That document includes the detailed report of the two on-call courts that faced the first days of the migratory crisis. Their data are what lead the Council to state that what happened “has extraordinarily affected the development of the public Justice service”.
“By the President of the Court of First Instance of Ceuta and of Court No. 3, who was on duty, Miguel Ángel Fernández Lupiañez, it is reported that the judicial service has borne a significant workload,” explains the report reviewed by the CGPJ. “It is reported that on the 30th there were few detainees, as a consequence of the collapse of the Security Forces and Corps; on the 31st, Friday, the trend was similar, with the 1st of August reaching the figure of 20 detainees, with matters of special complexity, which extended the working day until three in the morning.” It goes on to explain that on August 2 “the number of detainees slightly decreased” and from that day the number of detainees was reduced, “being an average of 10 detainees daily”.
The judge of Court 4, Sara Beatriz López Rodríguez, in charge of the next on-call – between August 5 and 11 – reported to the Inspection Service that those days she received “72 reports with detainees or summoned,” with a peak of 16 reports on the 5th. Regarding the type of crimes, “a significant number of detainees for resistance and assault and for crimes against property, especially robberies with violence” occurred.
One of the “main operational difficulties” has been that “numerous detainees” were required by multiple judicial bodies, which requires processing various procedures regarding the same person, which significantly slows down the processing.
The same Court 4 is also the one assigned the competencies of Gender Violence in Ceuta. It reports the figures on that type of crimes and makes a comparison with what was usual in the autonomous city. “The magistrate highlights that since August 4, 9 preliminary proceedings have been initiated for sexual assaults, some by police report, others by medical report. Since January 1, 16 proceedings of this type had been initiated, that is approximately 2.25 per month, so this week there has been a notable increase.” The nine cases in less than 15 days of data means that the frequency of sexual assaults multiplied by eight.
In addition to the reinforcement of this court, the Standing Committee has agreed to extend the stay of the judge who was already providing support in gender violence matters. His cessation as reinforcement was imminent and he himself had requested his continuation, given the circumstances.
Apart from the criminal aspects, the president of the Court of First Instance highlights in his letter to the Inspection that the workload is especially weighed down by the processing of the deaths of those who tried to access Ceuta, which he numbers at 96. These are procedures “of special technical complexity and require the dedication of a significant number of human resources”.
The agreed reinforcements must now be processed by the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia. The Council has also asked the Ministry of Justice headed by Félix Bolaños to do its part and reinforce the staff under its competence, something the city’s judges demanded in a meeting with the CGPJ last Friday. The Ministry is requested a Justice Administration lawyer and four officials, as well as the incorporation of two interpreters and an urgent expert appraisal service for the on-call service.
