The PP deputy José Manuel Velasco Retamosa, who defended before the Congressional Justice Commission that the legislative transposition which ended up sneaking the reform Txapote which will put nearly fifty members of ETA on the street, was “simple and arrived late”, that is to say doctor of law and university professor at the public university of Castilla-La Mancha. Moreover, it is Deputy Mayor and Advisor for Tourism and Housing at Toledo City Hall. At the organic level, he holds the position of general coordinator of the PP in the province.
Velasco Retamosa, born December 10, 1970, is doctor of law And Professor of international law Private at the University of Castile-La Mancha (UCLM). He was a regional deputy in Courts of Castile-La Mancha (2008-2011), Director General of Universities and Research of Council of Communities of Castile-La Mancha (2013-2015) and Toledo city councilor (2015-2019), where he reiterated after the last elections.
Since August 17, 2023, he has been a titular deputy. His current positions include deputy spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committeevowel of Justice Commission and the vowel of Industry and Tourism Commission, all from December 2023.
Velasco is one of the seven deputies elected in the province of Toledo who, in the last elections, chose three representatives from his party, while the others belong to the PSOE and VOX.
“It’s simple and it comes late”
Velasco Retamosa defended before the Justice Commission of the Congress the adaptation of the European directive, which included the modification of Organic Law 7/2014. This reform will allow reduce the sentences of ETA members who served their sentences outside Spain. “The Government should have ensured that this transposition was carried out on time and not two years late,” declared the popular deputy.
Velasco, member of the party he leads Alberto Nuñez Feijóostressed the need to speed up the process of applying European regulations, especially “when it comes to transpositions which, in one way or another, can benefit both EU citizens and to national authorities to improve the administration of justice.
“I remind you that this directive it would have been necessary to adapt before June 28, 2022,” Velasco said in the middle of this year. “When it comes to such simple regulations“The Government should have ensured that this transposition was carried out on time and not with a delay of two years,” concluded the popular representative.
The reform
The modified standard established so far, through its unique additional provisionthat “under no circumstances will convictions handed down by a court of a Member State of the European Union before August 15, 2010 be taken into account for the application of this law”. In other words, the government of Mariano Rajoyof the PP, assured, by approving this article, that the sentence served by an ETA member convicted in another country of the European Union would not be taken into account in the time served for the sentence he should undergo in Spain.
The article disappeared from the opinion of the Justice Commission voted in the Lower House in September 2024. This text included an amendment by Sumar aimed at repealing the only additional provision. From the party led by the second vice-president and minister of labor and social economy, Yolanda Diazthey justified that it was a matter of adapting it to community regulations.
The reform would allow the immediate release of several prisoners. Among them, Javier Garcia Gaztelupseudonym Txapotethe bloodthirsty boss of ETA who killed Miguel Angel Blanco And Fernando Mugica among many others and which accumulates 450 years of conviction. However, with the new rule, the six and a half years he served in France will be counted, which would be deducted from the date he planned to leave prison: 2031. Its release could come earlier this Christmas.
