The former president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, has managed to delay his trial again for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, which was scheduled to begin this Tuesday before the Criminal Court Number 3 of Arrecife.
According to the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, San Ginés' defense presented an incident of nullity last Friday at 2:45 p.m., which led the judge to issue a provision postponing the start of the hearing.
For the moment, the following days are maintained, the next May 24 and 25 and June 1, "pending the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court to rule on the request" of San Ginés. It was that section that dismissed the last appeal of the former president, against the diligence that set the dates of the trial, and what he has done now is to request the nullity of that resolution.
Cascade of rejected appeals and conviction for bad faith
This trial for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant had already begun in November 2020, after the cascade of appeals that San Ginés had presented and that were rejected. However, on the second day of the hearing, San Ginés' defense argued that that Court was not competent, arguing that it should have been referred to the Provincial Court, due to the penalties that were requested for the accused. This is how he managed to suspend it, after the three defendants had already testified, with important contradictions between the statements of the former president and the former secretary of the Corporation, Francisco Perdomo.
A month later, the Court overturned that argument, returning the case to the Court and to the magistrate who had initiated the trial. Since then, San Ginés' defense has continued to file appeals to try to avoid the bench, but all have been rejected. And the challenge he filed against the judge was also dismissed, questioning her impartiality to remove her from the case.
In its response rejecting that challenge, the First Section of the Court also imposed a fine of 1,000 euros on San Ginés, considering that he acted with “accredited bad faith”, launching "excessive" and "unjustified accusations" against the magistrate. In addition, he pointed out that the objective of presenting that writing, which he described as “unjustified”, “unfounded” and “dilatory”, was “to remove from the matter a judge who is uncomfortable for him”.
Now, Pedro San Ginés has undertaken a new attempt, with this incident of nullity related to the diligence that set the dates of the trial. That has led the judge to delay the start of the hearing, so that the Court can rule.
