The judge of the Audiencia Nacional, José Luis Calama, has rejected the nullity of proceedings incident in the Plus Ultra case presented by the defense of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, as the brief was filed outside the 20-day period stipulated by law from the moment the party has material access to the proceedings.
Read more The innocence of the innocent Zapatero
Zapatero’s defense had filed on June 25 an incident of nullity of proceedings in which it requested that the violation of several fundamental rights be declared and requested the exclusion from the procedure of twelve resolutions, including those for entry and search of the former Prime Minister’s office and the one that opened a separate piece to investigate the origin of the jewels seized in his office.
The order explains that, in accordance with article 241 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary, the period provided for raising an incident of nullity is 20 days, which begins to run from the moment the affected party has effective knowledge of the act that violates the fundamental right.
That knowledge, adds the judge, “is not identified with subjective valuations nor with the strategic convenience of the challenge, but with real and sufficient access to the content of the action: disclosure of the proceedings, delivery of a copy, consultation of the file or any act that allows knowledge of the existence and scope of the injury”.
Calama recalls that in the present case, Rodríguez Zapatero’s defense, led by Professor Víctor Moreno Catena, indicated that “the nullity arises from access to the Cloud platform and knowledge of what happened in the pre-procedural Investigation Proceedings, and after learning the procedural course that has brought the case to the present moment”.
