Twenty lawyers in the BES/GES case defend the illegality of substituting Judge Ivo Rosa at the head of the investigation of the case and filed a request on Thursday in the file, pointing out the violation of the principle of the natural judge.
A source linked to the process told Lusa this Friday that the text was signed by the defenses of many of the accused and even by an assistant in the process, pointing in the same direction as the precautionary measure presented this week before the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ). ) by the lawyers of the Swiss defendants Etienne Cadosch and Michel Creton, asking the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) to replace Ivo Rosa by Judge Pedro Correia in the investigation of this case.
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According to the text of the lawsuit, to which Lusa had access, the almost two dozen lawyers consider that, given the suspension of Judge Ivo Rosa’s promotion to the Lisbon Court of Appeal —as a consequence of the disciplinary process initiated in February by the organ of direction and discipline of the judges — his position as Judge 2 (of nine) in the Central Court of Criminal Investigation (TCIC) “was never vacant.”
Therefore, these representatives maintain, the place of Ivo Rosa could not be occupied, in the first place, in the ordinary judicial motion by Judge Artur Cordeiro, who, as he was in commission as president of the District of Lisbon, ended up giving place to Pedro I ran to the place. of Judge 2, as substitute auxiliary judge placed this September in the TCIC. The substitution decision was communicated by the CSM on September 6.
Only with the completion, without obstacles, of the disciplinary process, is the magistrate promoted, which means that, while the suspension lasts, the magistrate is not, nor is, nor has he been promoted. If he does not ascend, and because he does not stay in limbo, he necessarily has to stay in his place of origin ”, they argue about the current situation of judge Ivo Rosa, labeling him as “illegal” the process of substitution of the magistrate in charge of investigating the case.
They also affirm that “the manipulation of the lottery will always be illegal, even if it is pious and well-intentioned” and that this substitution represented a “specific determination of the new judge”, making his intentions clear: on the one hand, that the Judge Ivo Rosa “resumes the effective direction of the work” and, on the other hand, that Judge Pedro Correia must “declare himself incompetent to process these cases”.
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Here there is no formal violation of the principle of the natural judge, because the administrative subdivision of the Court (Judge, or Section or “Judge” in the sense of charge) continued with the process —in our case, Judge 2 of the TCIC— but there will be, of course, substantive or material violation of the principle of the natural judge, because the case was withdrawn from the judge”, says the document.
At the same time, the lawyers highlighted the experience of only four years (including the training period at the Center for Judicial Studies) of Judge Pedro Correia to remind them that the law requires criminal investigating judges to have at least 10 years of service, also assuming that “the selection of a judge with insufficient experience” means “fewer conditions to disagree with an accusation made by seven superior prosecutors”.
This substitution of judge changes the probabilities of a ruling in favor of the Public Ministry from 50% to 99%”, they refer, and continues: “Only judges who are very sure of themselves, conscientious and hard-working like Hon. Mr. Judge of Law, Dr. Ivo Nelson de Caires Baptista Rosa (and others, fortunately), are the ones who take the investigation seriously and the “in dubio pro reo” (principle of presumption of innocence) during the investigation phase ” .
Finally, a criticism is left of the actions of the CSM, not only for the alleged violation of the principle of the natural judge, but also, for the lawyers who signed the request, for “against the principle of procedural speed”. At issue is the time required for Judge Pedro Correia to hear the case, concluding that it is “totally unrealistic” to conclude the investigation of the BES/GES case within the period defined by the CSM: February 2023.
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The BES/GES case initially had 30 defendants (23 people and seven companies), but now there are 26 defendants, out of a total of 23 people and three companies.
Considered one of the biggest cases in the history of Portuguese justice, this case adds to the main process 242 investigations, which were accumulated, and complaints from more than 300 natural and legal persons, residents in Portugal and abroad. According to the Public Ministry (MP), whose accusation occupied nearly four thousand pages, the disappearance of the Espírito Santo Group (GES) in 2014 caused damages of more than 11.8 billion euros.
Source: Observadora
