The environmental association Agonane, which last April appeared as a popular accusation in the Stratvs case, has decided to withdraw from the procedure since it considers that it has been "deceived and used" by the lawyer who "convinced" them to intervene in this case. From the association, according to what they have declared to La Voz, they believe that all he did was "add noise", hindering the procedure.
Coinciding with the withdrawal of Agonane from the case, another supposed environmental association, Jacón, has now tried to appear in Stratvs. But unlike Agonane, which is based in Fuerteventura and is officially registered, Jacón does not even appear in the official register of associations. This has been confirmed to La Voz by the General Directorate of Institutional Relations, Citizen Participation and Youth of the Government of the Canary Islands, after consulting both the Canary Islands Association Registry and the national registry. Neither one nor the other contains this association, whose headquarters are supposedly in Gran Canaria.
Although no references to this supposed group can be found on the Internet either, the truth is that two weeks ago a document was presented in the Court that is investigating the Stratvs case on behalf of the environmental association Jacón, requesting its appearance as a popular accusation. And in this case, it was Judge Silvia Muñoz herself who rejected the petition, understanding that no new appearances are possible at this stage of the procedure, given that the order for the opening of oral proceedings has already been issued.
Agonane's appearance, with the investigation completed
In the case of Agonane, although its appearance also came with the investigation concluded, its entry as a popular accusation was accepted because that last order for the opening of the trial had not yet been issued. However, now it has been the group itself that has decided to withdraw, feeling "deceived and used" by its lawyer. According to them, the lawyer acted "behind the backs" of the association, without giving them documentation and undertaking actions that they had not ordered.
Among them, appealing the judge's order that ended the investigation of the case (the one that opens the period for the presentation of the accusations), which had been issued even before they joined the procedure. However, what was not done was to present a written accusation on behalf of Agonane (the deadline for doing so expired more than a month ago), but the lawyer did not formally communicate his withdrawal from the case either.
Faced with this situation, it was a representative of the group who appeared in court on July 15 to withdraw from the procedure. "The legal direction has acted with total opacity towards the association and carrying out procedural actions not ordered by the association and not communicated to it", said the representative of Agonane in that appearance before the judge, in which he announced that the group is withdrawing from the procedure and reserves "the legal actions that may correspond" against the "legal direction" that represented them.
The lawyer "does not understand" Agonane's criticisms
Although that legal direction was formally exercised by Manuel Perera, the association mainly points to another lawyer, Juan David García Pazos, who is the one they claim convinced them to appear in the case. This has been confirmed to La Voz by the lawyer himself, who has his office in Gran Canaria and had previously worked with the association in other lawsuits in Fuerteventura.
García Pazos denies Agonane's accusations and states that he "does not understand" their criticisms, but explains that the appearance in this case did indeed come from him. "I told them to appear and since I'm dealing with four more issues, I gave it to my colleague. Then they started a story, that they had spoken with I don't know who and that they didn't want to continue, so we didn't continue. They will know what they are doing", he has declared to La Voz.
He precisely assures that this is why the written accusation was not presented, because Agonane gave him instructions to abandon the case. However, the lawyer did not officially record this resignation in court. According to García Pazos, it was not necessary to do so because "the law says that if you do not present a written accusation, you are immediately out". However, other legal sources maintain the opposite and assure that as long as they did not withdraw from the case, they had the possibility of attending the trial.
In any case, the Court did formally record the appearance made last week by a representative of the association to officially withdraw from the procedure. Something that García Pazos insists is unnecessary. "Ask them (the members of Agonane) why they did it, because they do what they want without calling me", he has responded in this regard.
"We thought we were going to do a public good"
Both the lawyer and the association agree in explaining that they had been working together for years in different procedures on the island of Fuerteventura. "You get a person you know from other struggles for the environment and they tell you, look, they are getting away scot-free. They ask you if the association would be willing to lend a hand, and you lend it", they say from the association, which points out that on other occasions they have intervened in issues of Lanzarote.
"We have been victims, we have been innocent for thinking that people fight all their lives for what one believes", they insist. "We thought we were going to do public good, that we were fighting for La Geria, so that the people who had destroyed it and had caused disasters would pay, but it turns out that the lawyer deceived us. From what everyone tells us, he is on the other side. Instead of helping, he was generating noise", they insist from Agonane, who do not hide their "disgust" and their "discomfort" for what happened.
"This is a small, non-profit association with very little money, contributed by the members, and this has also meant an expense for us", they lament, also considering that their participation has only caused a delay in the procedure (among other things by extending the deadline for the presentation of written accusations for them, which they finally did not provide).
"He said that things were not being done well"
At the time, Agonane's 'late' appearance in the case was surprising, since the Stratvs case had been under investigation for years and this association appeared when the investigation was already finished and the written accusations had even been presented. And not only that of the Public Prosecutor's Office, but also those of the other two accusations appearing in the case: the popular accusation represented by the Transparencia Urbanística association and the private accusation represented by the Negrín family, which denounces that the businessman Juan Francisco Rosa usurped part of their land to build the Stratvs complex.
Regarding the reason for this appearance, Agonane insists that it was the lawyer who convinced them of this need, although they assure that he later kept them out of the steps he was taking. "Every time you talked to him, he would tell you that things were not being done well, that they were letting the culprits go, that there are many interests there...", they explain from the association, which adds that however, when they asked him for "the papers", the lawyer did not send them.