Six of eight former top Council officials convicted of embezzlement in ‘ERE case’ are jailed | Spain

This Monday, four of the eight former top officials of the Andalusian junta convicted of embezzlement in the political piece of the ERE case. Former councilors José Antonio Viera (Labour) and Francisco Vallejo (Innovation), together with former deputy councilor for Innovation Jesús María Rodríguez and former Idea agency director Miguel Ángel Serrano entered prison to serve their sentences after former councilors Antonio Fernández and Carmen Martínez Aguayo did it this Sunday and last Wednesday. Of the eight convicted, only the former Andalusian president José Antonio Griñán and the former deputy councilor Agustín Barberá remain at large, both awaiting medical opinions from forensics for the serious pathologies they suffer from, which could delay or cancel their entry into prison .

The Supreme Court ruling handed down last summer took months to be enforced by the Seville Tribunal and this Christmas six of the eight convicted of embezzlement went to jail. The high court ruling convicted Griñán and seven other former defendants of embezzlement and his predecessor Manuel Chaves and five other former leaders of malpractice (which involves disqualification), as well as acquitted three former senior council officials.

This Sunday, the former Minister of Labor Antonio Fernández entered the prison of Puerto III (Cádiz) to serve his seven-year prison sentence and this Monday morning his predecessor in office, José Antonio Viera, did so to serve his sentence of seven years and one day. Shortly after 18:00, 1 Vallejo, Rodríguez and Serrano entered the Seville prison. Last Thursday, former councilor Carmen Martínez Aguayo entered the prison of Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville). Meanwhile, former president José Antonio Griñán is awaiting an appeal before the Seville court for the illness he suffers from and could avoid his hospitalization tonight until the coroner decides whether he can be treated in prison.

Fernández, born in Jerez, chose the Cadiz prison of Puerto III to serve his sentence of seven years and 11 months in prison after the Seville court rejected his appeals, like that of other former senior officials. This Monday the 10-day deadline granted by the three judges of the First Section to carry out the sentence of the Supreme Court expired.

On 22 December, the court decided to suspend the detention of former Labor Minister Agustín Barberá, pending the coroner’s determination whether his illness can be treated in prison. The Court of First Section rejected Barberá’s appeal but suspended his imprisonment until his lawyer’s appeal was dealt with under article 80.4 of the penal code, referring to a prisoner “suffering from a very serious disease with incurable “. The former deputy councilor’s lawyer argued on the merits of the hearing for the execution of the sentence and presented humanitarian reasons for the illness from which he suffers.

Meanwhile, former President Griñán has asked the court to suspend the 10-day period to enter prison, given the prostate cancer he has been diagnosed with. After providing the medical records of the ensuing radiohormonal therapy treatment, the judges ordered a coroner from the Institute of Medical Examiner to examine the records and, if necessary, examine Griñán to determine whether his detention “might have a impact on the development of the disease or in the treatment prescribed “, reads the judicial resolution. Both will know the opinions of forensic experts on their state of health in the coming days.