A convicted of the 'procés' must be compensated for having suffered undue imprisonment, according to the CGPJ

In a report known by EL ESPAÑOL, the governing body of judges pronounces favorably on Mundó's request, based on the strict application of the doctrine of the Supreme Court.

The former Catalan counselor claims 19,409.81 euros plus legal interest, a figure notoriously higher than the scales of the Ministry of Justice.

[Carles Mundó, sentenced to a ten-month fine with disqualification for a crime of disobedience]

Mundó, along with other former members of the Government of Carles Puigdemont, was imprisoned on November 2, 2017 by the then central investigating judge Carmen Lamela, after filing a complaint by the State Attorney General's Office for crimes of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds related to the development of the 'procés' and the call for an illegal referendum on independence on 1-O.

The former Minister of Justice spent 33 days in jail. He was provisionally released by Judge Pablo Llarena when the case went to the Supreme Court.

Mundó was tried in 2019 by the Criminal Chamber of the high court, which significantly lowered the expectations of the accusations. The Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office requested seven years in prison for him for disobedience and embezzlement, while the popular accusation exercised by Vox claimed 24 years in prison.

But the Supreme Court only appreciated a crime of disobedience to the courts for having participated in the call for the referendum despite having been required by the Constitutional Court to refrain from intervening given the illegal nature of the referendum.

The Criminal Chamber imposed a fine of 60,000 euros and special disqualification from holding elective public office for one year and eight months.

When the court approved the liquidation of the sentence, it reduced the fine imposed by 66 days, at a rate of two days of fine for each day that he was in provisional detention.. Therefore, he paid 13,200 euros less.

“Obvious damage”

Mundó highlights in his request for compensation that, at the time of entering prison, at the age of 41, married and with three minor children, his contribution to the family economy represented practically all the income. To this were added the expenses of the displacements of their relatives to the Estremera prison, 632 kilometers away.

Some of his relatives have had to resort to the help of psychologists since “they have had to endure countless comments about their procedural situation and imprisonment,” he says.

[The TC also dismisses the appeal of former counselor Carles Mundó against the condemnation of the 'procés']

As regards him, the company for which he provided services as a lawyer suspended his contract. And the media exposure of the case, “with the constant appearance of one's own image in all the media, under the accusation of having committed such serious crimes of the Criminal Code as rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds, with requests for a sentence of up to 24 years in prison, is a burden that should never have been borne, much less preventive detention for
more than a month”.

His imprisonment, he points out, meant “obvious damage to his personal, family and professional reputation.”. But it was an undue imprisonment, since he was convicted of a crime – disobedience – that does not carry a prison sentence.

The “stigma of jail”

The “injury to honor”, he affirms, had repercussions in the personal and professional sphere “since it is a serious accusation, which later materialized in the crime of embezzlement of public funds.”

“Having to answer for a crime that has not been committed means carrying an unfair weight, and even more so when there is a very intense social sensitivity in relation to the use of public money,” he maintains.

In the professional field, which is the private practice of law, “it is especially burdensome to have to bear an accusation related to the fraudulent use of public funds, all this added to the stigma of having gone to jail for such an unfounded accusation,” Add.

The CGPJ report indicates that, since Carles Mundó was convicted of one of the two crimes of which he was accused, “it would not seem that the budget required by article 294.1 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary was fulfilled.”

This precept establishes that “those who, after having suffered preventive detention, are acquitted (…) will have the right to compensation, provided that damages have been caused.”

Doctrine of the Supreme

“However, he adds, “the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, Contentious-Administrative Chamber, of June 20, 2022 has been in charge of establishing jurisprudential doctrine” on whether the right to compensation for preventive detention requires the acquittal of all crimes that motivated that or the acquittal of any of them is enough.

The Supreme Court has declared that “in order to recognize the right to compensation for undue preventive detention agreed in relation to two or more crimes, it is not necessary that the acquittal of all the crimes that motivated it finally take place.”

The high court has established that “it is enough that the non-existence of the crime that mainly sustained the situation of improper imprisonment is judicially verified, even if the sentence to imprisonment for another crime is finally confirmed.”

The CGPJ confirms that the crime of disobedience for which Mundó was convicted is not punishable by imprisonment and that, on the other hand, the former counselor was acquitted of the crime of embezzlement of public funds “which served, among other things, as the basis for agreeing the precautionary measure of provisional detention”.

The Council emphasizes, however, that the pretrial detention he suffered has been taken into account when settling the fine, which “can be assessed when setting the amount of compensation.”

In this way, “according to the established jurisprudential doctrine”, “the exposed factual circumstances lead to appreciate that the budget for the application of article 294.1 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary is present”.

“This does not mean,” he concludes, “that such abnormal functioning is causally connected to the damages that the claimant claims to have suffered, nor that these hypothetical damages reach the amount of compensation concerned, points on which no pronouncement is appropriate from this General Council of the Judiciary”.

The Ministry of Justice has established a scale for compensation for improper imprisonment that ranges between 17 and 52 euros per day. In those parameters, Mundó was entitled to no more than 1,716 euros.