Olga Tubau: “In the ‘procés’, the Judiciary was very threatened”

Dozens of criminal proceedings behind him leads the lawyer Olga Tubau (Paris, 1961). The image of this lawyer crying after her final report in the trial in which she defended the oldest of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, remains on the retina of many. “It was a mixture of exhaustion and thinking: that’s it. It was a downturn, but I’m quite a crybaby. & Rdquor ;. With his tenacity, his refined technique and his meticulous interrogation, he obtained the acquittal of the Chief of Police of the Generalitat. “Even if Trapero had been tried in the Supreme Court, he would have been acquitted, I have no doubt, & rdquor; he maintains. And another phrase, but this time about the trials of the ‘procés’ and their consequences: “The Judiciary was very threatened & rdquor ;.

This lawyer with a long professional career participated this Thursday in the series of conferences “Afterworks & rdquor; organized by EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA. In a room at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona, ​​this lawyer explained not only some of the cases she has faced, but also her opinion about her profession and her relationship with the media. As a woman, she encourages breaking the glass ceiling that prevents jurists from reaching the highest levels of law and the judiciary, although she admits that “a large part of the men & rdquor; investigated in a process “they want a man to defend them & rdquor ;.

In a pleasant conversation, the journalist and deputy director of EL PERIÓDICO Carol Álvarez extracted from the lawyer the insides of important trials, such as the kidnapping of Segundo Marey by the terrorist group GAL or of Ester Quintana (young woman injured by a police projectile) and also her most human part. The lawyer spoke, as always, from the elegance and ‘savoir-faire’ that characterizes her. When questioned by an assistant about the ethical barrier of lawyers when defending their clients before the courts, Tubau made her position clear: “The ethical thing is to defend to the last consequences & rdquor ;. One of her defendants, Trapero, heard her from the front row of the auditorium.

The kidnapping that ended Barrionuevo

With barely 10 years of experience before the courts and with 35 years, Tubau exercised the private prosecution in one of the trials mentioned in the history of Spain: that of Segundo Marey. On December 4, 1983, some mercenaries hired with funds reserved from the Ministry of the Interior kidnapped this vendor, mistaking him for an ETA leader. The action was claimed by a group called GAL. The Supreme Court sentenced the former Minister of the Interior José Barrionuevo, the former Director General of State Security Rafael Vera, the former civil governor of Vizcaya, Julián Sancristóbal, as well as several ex-police officers and police officers, including José Amedo and Michel Domínguez.

“The confessions of some policemen, Amedo and Domínguez, provided the evidence that the GAL was behind the kidnapping, which had been born within the Ministry of the Interior,” Tubau recalls. At that time, he points out, there was “harassment and demolition & rdquor; of the party in the Government, the PSOE, for its cases of alleged corruption, which creates a “huge tension & rdquor; and there was an open war in the Madrid press. She decided that she should not explain anything and that she should “work behind the scenes on the procedure & rdquor; . “I did not want to be the star attorney in the Segundo Marey & rdquor; trial,” he asserts.

The case of Ester Quintana, who lost an eye due to a rubber bullet thrown by the Mossos, it also marked him. He defended the two accused agents. Complains about the “parallel trial & rdquor; which, in his opinion, was produced in the press. “The officers were convicted & rdquor ;, he maintains. That media significance, he insists, can provoke “what is called civil death before criminal & rdquor; and “unfortunately nothing can be done & rdquor; to stop it.

Absolution, after paying compensation

“The parallel trial is something terrible for what is a democratic society because it is undermining judicial independence & rdquor ;, emphasizes Tubau. The mossos tried were acquitted. The Ministry of the Interior compensated the victim, as recommended by the lawyer. “It cannot be that a citizen went to a demonstration and instead of going home ended up in a hospital. Admittedly, it was caused by a police action & rdquor ;, he details. He emphasizes that there was no evidence against the indicted policemen.

The politicization of judicial procedures or the extreme judicialization of various aspects of life is another of the changes that have occurred. When did the turning point occur? The lawyer answers: “Well, surely with the loss of quality of our politicians & rdquor ;. He explains that before “the contests were settled in Congress or a plenary session of the city council” and now they are brought to justice, which is “a loss of democratic quality”.

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The judicial machinery during the ‘process’

Politics also had weight in the trials of the ‘procés’ and among them that of Major Trapero. For Tubau, “the Government of Mariano Rajoy no It does not take any political initiative of a certain forcefulness to avoid the referendum and, in addition, the perception is that they do not necessarily want to start the judicial machinery in such an aggressive way as in the end. What is it that suddenly makes the State Attorney General, José Manuel Maza, present the complaints? Maybe it was the other way around; perhaps it was direct or indirect pressure from the Judiciary. I don’t think there is a single call from anyone saying we want this to happen, it wasn’t necessary. In everything that happens that autumn (2017), the Judiciary is also very threatened & rdquor; and especially the judges and prosecutors of Catalonia, who are the ones who receive the weight in the community. “They all have the idea that they were here as the hand of a State power and that if the ‘procés’ had gone ahead they would have thrown them all from a place that for them is their land,” he says. At the end of the act, the lawyer continued with the same smile that began.