© Provided by The World
Meritxell Serret, in April 2021, when he testified in the Supreme Court.
The supreme court has seated the former Minister of Agriculture of the Catalan Generalitat on the bench for serious disobedience Meritxell Serretfor his performance during the process. The bench will not, however, be that of the Supreme Court itself, but that of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. This is the competent court for the trial, since in the end has not been accused of embezzlement of public funds.
The decision comes a year following Serret will return to Spainfollowing having fled with Carles Puigdemont on the occasion of the criminal case opened once morest those responsible for the procés. In April of last year she appeared before the investigating judge of 1-O, paul larena, before which he recognized the crime of disobedience, but not that of embezzlement. The latter is the only one that might take him to prison.
When he returned, Serret already knew the judgment of the procés and might predict that he would get rid of embezzlement, a crime that the Supreme only applied to the ministers who had authorized specific expenses for 1-O. The one in Agriculture that he had headed was not one of them.
In the order dictated this Tuesday, the Criminal Chamber remember that the prosecutionthe State Attorney and Vox As a popular accusation, they supported the conclusion of the investigation and the opening of the oral trial once morest the former counselor solely for a crime of disobedience. Serret herself agreed. The resolution of the Chamber recalls that the law prevents it from opening an oral trial for a crime that the accusations have not raised.
Disobedience, by itself, would not justify the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to judge the regional deputy, who therefore remains in the hands of the TSJ, before whom she is qualified. Serious disobedience only carries penalties of disqualification and a fine.
