The Official State Gazette (BOE) published this Monday, September 2, the retirement of the judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón, who was in charge of studying how the amnesty affects those investigated for the “Democratic Tsunami” until he filed the case, after the magistrate asked the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to advance this day to October 16, the date on which he will celebrate his 72nd birthday.
Specifically, the BOE published the agreement of June 20 of the Permanent Commission of the CGPJ declaring “the forced retirement due to age” of Judge Manuel García Castellón, until yesterday president of the Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court. The decree is signed by the interim president of the CGPJ, Vicente Guilarte.
García Castellón, with a long career in the National Court and in other positions as a liaison judge with France and Italy, requested in 2022 to extend his retirement to the maximum allowed by law, 72 years. Last June, the CGPJ approved the judge’s request to advance his retirement from October 16 – the date he turned 72 – to September 2.
After his return to the National Court, García Castellón took charge in 2017 of important corruption cases such as the Púnica, Lezo and Villarejo cases, in which he investigated dozens of pieces related to the affairs of the former National Police Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo.
From the Six Instruction Center, García Castellón was also in charge of leading the investigations into the “Tsunami Democràtic” case. On July 9, the judge archived the file of the October 2019 riots attributed to Tsunami Democràtic in response to the judgment of the trial, which included ten people indicted, including the secretary general of ERC, Marta Rovira.
The judge accepted the said file after the decision of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court to declare the nullity of the procedure in this case since July 29, 2021 due to an error in the extension of the investigation, due to failure to comply with the legal deadlines. for having accepted it 24 hours after the deadline.
This led the Supreme Court to suspend the investigation against former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and ERC MP Rubén Wagensberg for their links with the organisation.
