Judge Ricardo Fiestras files a complaint with the Civil Guard for the dissemination of the video of his sanction

He was identified in a villa with almost a dozen people when the island was on alert level 4. "The agents can intervene, but there is the Data Protection Law, the right to privacy, to honor...", they point out from his environment

April 19 2021 (12:19 WEST)
Updated in April 19 2021 (13:07 WEST)
Footage of the Civil Guard's intervention in the villa where Judge Ricardo Fiestras was located
Footage of the Civil Guard's intervention in the villa where Judge Ricardo Fiestras was located

Judge Ricardo Fiestras, who last February was reported for violating the measures against Covid in a private meeting in a chalet in the municipality of Yaiza, has filed a complaint against the agents who intervened. The reason, according to sources close to the magistrate confirmed to La Voz, is not the action itself, but the fact that the agents recorded a video that ended up reaching the media.

"The complaint is only for the recording and dissemination of those images," the same sources specify. "They can intervene, but there is the Data Protection Law, there is the right to privacy, to honor... and they are nobody to record and disseminate that video. Even if they recorded for their personal defense in case of any problem, another thing is to then disseminate the videos in the media, of the people inside their houses...", they maintain.

"It's just a complaint, nothing more. Any citizen has the right to file a complaint, especially when private videos are disseminated and data of people, names and surnames, profession... are taken out," they add.

According to them, the complaint was filed a week after the events occurred, which took place on February 18. For its part, the Civil Guard has not wanted to confirm or deny the receipt of that complaint, nor have they given details about the measures that have been adopted to clarify the actions of the agents, stating that "they do not report on internal investigations".

 

Almost a dozen people gathered on alert level 4

In addition to the magistrate himself, the complaint was signed by other people who were with him in the chalet, located between Puerto Calero and Uga, where the judge had gone to spend a few days with his partner. Among them was Fernando Becerra, convicted in the Unión case. In total, the judge's own environment admitted then that about a dozen people gathered -five adults and the children of the two couples-, when the regulations in force at that time in Lanzarote, which was at alert level 4 due to the incidence of Covid, only allowed meetings of a maximum of two non-cohabiting people.

In this regard, the magistrate himself acknowledged at the time that "there may have been a violation of the rules" and that both he and the other participants were willing to accept the sanction that could be imposed on them. However, he disagreed with the "versions" that "circulated" and before the agents themselves he denied that it was "a party", although he did admit that they were "drinking beer and playing music" in the pool area, which led a neighbor to call the Civil Guard.

 

Two months later they have not received the sanction

After identifying all those present and taking their statements at the doors of the villa, the agents left and submitted a proposal for a sanction for an administrative offense. However, two months later, from the judge's environment they point out that "for the moment" none of the attendees has received "any sanction or anything at all".

That sanction would correspond to the Yaiza City Council, which is to whom the Civil Guard sends the actions for non-compliance with the measures against Covid. As for the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, they already indicated at the time to La Voz that they did not plan to intervene, since they consider that it was "a particular issue", not linked to the exercise of their position. And the same was indicated by the General Council of the Judiciary, which stressed that its competence in disciplinary matters is limited to cases in which a magistrate acts as such, or in case they receive any complaint or denunciation. "There is nothing, because nothing has arrived here," they told this media then.

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