Marchena to stay as October 1 chief judge

The president of the Supreme Court’s criminal chamber and the head judge in the trial of pro-independence leaders charged with rebellion for the October 1 referendum, Manuel Marchena, sees no reason to remove himself from the case. Marchena maintains that he has no “direct or indirect” interest in the prosecution of the social and political leaders.

This is Marchena’s response to the objections put forward by the defence teams of Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Jordi Cuixart, Carme Forcadell and Anna Simó, calling for his recusal. The pro-independence leaders have called for Marchena to step down over the Whatsapp scandal involving Ignacio Cosidó, in which the People’s Party (PP) Senate spokesman celebrated the agreement between PP and the Socialist executive to appoint Marchena as head of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). In the leaked messages, Cosidó boasted that PP would control the court from “behind the scenes”. The scandal led Marchena to step back from the appointment and with the agreement broken, Carlos Lesmes is to stay in his post as the head of the CGPJ and the Supreme Court, with Marchena remaining in charge of the court that will try the leaders.

In Marchena’s response denying any interest in the prosecutions, he points out that this is the seventh demand for recusals from the defences of the pro-independence leaders, in “a defensive strategy that forces the chamber to once and again justify its distance in regard to the object of the proceedings.”

In the five-page written response, Marchena also dissociates himself from Cosidó and rejects the accusations that the judiciary has become politicised. He also rejects the accusations that the CGPJ’s appointment process is politically contaminated, with appointments involving a score of politicians, leading to political agreements, as in this case.