The Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV) requested from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Ministry of Justice a “revision and update” of the judicial protocol in the face of major disasters —like that of DANA which mainly affected the Valencian Community—, which dates back to 2011. This was decided by nearly 250 judges, gathered during the XXXVIII General Assembly of the association, held in Benidorm.
More specifically, the AJFV requested verification of “the specific action in the case of Valencia”, and the reason why “the Judicial Crisis Commission” provided for in said protocol was not created from the first moment. During a round table, the magistrates discussed the judicial and medico-legal response to major disasters, specifically analyzing the judicial response carried out during the DANA on October 29.
The round table was attended by José Manuel Muñoz-Quirós, forensic doctor and major disaster manager in Alicante; Pablo Ignacio Luján, magistrate of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Masssamagrell and spokesperson for the AJFV in the Valencian Community. In addition, Antonio Téllez Plaza, magistrate of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 1 of Picassent, and José Luis Rubido de la Torre, magistrate of the Court of Instruction number 1 of Valencia, intervened.
In this context, the AJFV expressed his condolences to those affected by the disaster. Thus, he highlighted “the altruistic work of all these civil servants and citizens in general, without whose unconditional commitment and dedication would not make it possible to carry out the enormous task of reconstruction.”
In addition, he gave “affectionate recognition” to the work carried out by the security forces and bodies; comprising “the body of forensic doctors, justice officials and, above all, the judges and magistrates who carried out guard functions in the three other judicial parties punished by DANA (Catarroja, Torrent and Requena), as well as in the other judicial districts of the most affected area (Carlet, Picasset, Alzira, Xátiva and Quart de Poblet).