Pedro San Ginés' defense has launched a final attempt to suspend the trial for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, when the first day of the oral hearing has already been held. In a letter that they have registered this Tuesday, the lawyers of the former president of the Cabildo ask that “everything done” before the Criminal Court Number 3 of Arrecife be annulled and that the case be sent to the Provincial Court, since they now maintain that the magistrate “is not competent” to judge it.
“It is so obvious that there is no accusation with procedural legitimacy that we were very surprised that the trial began. But once started, if a penalty of 12 years of special disqualification is requested, the competent body is the Provincial Court. The Criminal Court can only hear if the penalties of any nature do not exceed 10 years,” said lawyer José María Calero, who had not raised this argument until now, despite the fact that the indictment requesting that penalty was filed more than two years ago.
After making this announcement to the media at the doors of the Courts, San Ginés' lawyer repeated it also in the courtroom when the second day of the trial was about to begin. And there, after a tense moment of debate in which the prosecutor also intervened, the magistrate ended up ordering a recess to analyze what was raised by the defense of the former president.
