The CGPJ says that Carles Mundó must be compensated for the days in prison before the 'procés'

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has concluded that the Ministry of Justice must compensate the former Minister of Culture of Catalonia Carles Mundó for the 33 days that he was in preventive detention before the trial of the 'procés' was held in which sentenced him to 60,000 euros and 1 year and 8 months of special disqualification for a crime of disobedience, and he was acquitted of the crime of embezzlement.

This has been agreed by the Permanent Commission of the governing body of judges in its plenary session on April 26 after approving the report, to which Europa Press has had access, on State patrimonial responsibility that the member José Antonio Ballestero wrote on the case of World.

The Ministry of Justice asked the CGPJ to issue a report on the letter submitted by the former Generalitat counselor to claim “compensation for the abnormal functioning of the Administration of Justice”.

It should be remembered that in November 2017, the Central Investigating Court Number 3 of the National Court agreed to the provisional detention reported and without bail of Mundó in the framework of the preliminary proceedings related to the Catalan independence process and the referendum that took place on 1 October of that same year. The State Attorney General's Office accused him of alleged crimes of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds.

Mundó alleged that he remained “deprived of liberty for 33 days, between November 2 and December 4, 2017”, in his opinion, a preventive detention that he suffered “unduly for having been acquitted in a final sentence of any crime that has the penalty of deprivation of liberty”.

Mundó alleges “moral” damages

The ex-counselor assured that a series of “damages” had been generated. According to what he specified, his imprisonment “was a serious inconvenience” for his family economy, which “came aggravated” by the fact that his family had to travel 632 kilometers from Barcelona to the Estremera prison, in Madrid, to visit him..

In addition to the family consequences, Mundó also pointed out a series of “labour” and “moral” damages, given that the company for which he worked as a lawyer for someone else suspended his employment contract and that he suffered “obvious damage” to his personal and family reputation with the addition of “exceptional media exposure”.

For all this, the former Catalan minister “claims compensation for the damages caused of 19,409.81 euros, plus the corresponding legal interest from the date of presentation of the claim”.

The CGPJ report limits itself “strictly” to “assessing” whether the facts accredited in the Mundó file actually constitute an assumption of abnormal functioning of the Administration of Justice, “without going into other considerations about the damages that may result have occurred, of the causal relationship between those and these, of the origin or inadmissibility of the compensation or, in short, of the amount that should eventually correspond in such concept”.

The jurisprudence of the Supreme

In 14 pages, the governing body of the judges has reviewed the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and has recalled that the latter in June 2022 established doctrine when determining whether the right to compensation for preventive detention requires acquittal of all the crimes that motivated that one or the acquittal of any of them is enough.

Thus, it has stressed that the Supreme Court 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 that one finally take place.”.

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

It does not rule on the amount of compensation

In this sense, the CGPJ has stressed that in the case of Mundó he was convicted of a crime of disobedience, which “is not punishable by prison”, and “was acquitted of the crime of embezzlement of public funds that served, among other things , of foundation to agree on the precautionary measure of provisional detention”.

In line, he has specified that “it is verified” that the time he was in pretrial detention has been taken into account when settling the sentence of a fine finally imposed, “but without prejudice to the fact that this fact can be assessed at the time of set the amount of compensation.

On this point, it has pointed out that “the factual circumstances exposed” by Mundó do not lead to the conclusion that the “abnormal functioning” of the Administration of Justice “is causally connected to the damages” that the former counselor claims to have suffered, “nor that these hypothetical damages reach the compensation amount concerned, points on which no pronouncement is appropriate by this General Council of the Judiciary”.