Emilia Zaballos insists that the Court did not inform her that they were going to destroy Romina's lung

"When has an Anatomical Institute ever disposed of a body without consulting the relatives?" the lawyer denounced

June 9 2023 (17:01 WEST)
Romina Celeste's mother Miriam Rodríguez and her lawyer, Emilia Zaballos. Photo: Andrea Domínguez.
Romina Celeste's mother Miriam Rodríguez and her lawyer, Emilia Zaballos. Photo: Andrea Domínguez.

The lawyer of the Romina Celeste family, Emilia Zaballos, has insisted again that the lawyer of the Administration of Justice, Antonio Vázquez Soto, did not notify her that the piece of lung of the young Paraguayan woman was going to be destroyed within three months. Zaballos has responded in this way to the statement issued by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands in which the Court that instructed the case defends that it notified on January 17, 2020 that it would be destroyed if there was no response.

"They are allowed to make a statement saying that we were given a transfer so that within a period of three months we would say what we wanted to do with the lung. It is not true. I make it clear," Zaballos said before the microphones of Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.

"When has an Anatomical Forensic Institute ever disposed of the body without consulting the relatives who are the owners of that corpse," the lawyer showed during her intervention on the air.

Zaballos pointed out that the lawyer Antonio Vázquez Soto "did not issue at any time any provision or requirement" neither to the mother of Romina Celeste nor to any of the lawyers of the defense, popular accusation, the Public Prosecutor's Office nor to me as a private accusation. She also stressed that "we are given copies, but we are not told at any time to indicate what is going to be done with the remains."

The lawyer defends that in the month of January 2020, the document that the parties involved in the case received was the report of the Anatomical Forensic Institute that collected the lung tests and the DNA results, "saying that they would keep the remains for three months waiting for instructions."

"Who judges the judge when there are errors?", Emilia Zaballos reproaches. "You can't cover up when justice works badly, because the same thing that happened in the case of Romina and all those excesses cannot be allowed."

The non-notification of the sentence

The lawyer of the victim's family also reproached the Administration of Justice that, at 2:00 p.m. (Canarian time), she had not been notified of the official sentence when it was already running through all the media. "How can a mother find out about the sentence through the press before her lawyer?", denounced the defender.

Meanwhile, the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas later contradicted her version. "Before delivering the sentence of the Romina case to the Communication Office, it verified that it had been notified to all the prosecutors of the parties, and that they had acknowledged receipt of it," the Chamber defended.

Raúl Díaz Chacón leaving the City of Justice this Monday after the second session of the trial. EFE/ Elvira Urquijo A.
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Romina Celeste in a file image
Romina Celeste's only remains have been destroyed by mistake
Romina Miriam Rodriguez's mother leaving the City of Justice this Monday after the second session of the trial. EFE/ Elvira Urquijo A.
Romina Celeste's lung destroyed, the only thing left of her body
Romina Celeste's mother Miriam Rodríguez and her lawyer, Emilia Zaballos. Photo: Andrea Domínguez.
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