The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid admitted the appeal of the Commissioner of the National Police Estíbaliz Palma against the sanction of five days of work and salary imposed on him by the General Directorate of the Corps for having paid tribute to a injured colleague that some separatists would like to be raped by a riot police officer. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber ruled that Palma had not made these statements as head of the National Police of Pontevedra, a position she held at the time, and that their dissemination – through an exclusive from elDiario. es – was beyond his control.
The publication of the information led to the immediate dismissal of Palma and the opening of a file leading to a sanction for serious misconduct included in article 8.x of the police disciplinary regime, which punishes “violation duties or obligations inherent in the law. “in employment or police duty, when they arise in a serious and obvious manner. » According to the resolution of the TSJ, whose content was advanced by La Voz de Galicia, this article cannot be applied to the behavior of Commissioner Estíbaliz Palma, which is why it orders that she be reimbursed for the money that she lost following the sanction.
“Although the statements made by the applicant are accredited and are undoubtedly, and as she herself acknowledges, unfortunate, the context in which they occurred cannot be ignored: it was not a official act and the applicant was not acting today in representation of the position he then occupied,” states the judgment, to which elDiario.es had access.
Commanders and agents of the National Police organized a meal in a restaurant in Vigo on March 11, 2022 to pay tribute to Iván, a riot police officer forced to retire due to the consequences of serious injuries suffered during the riots against the condemnation of the process in the fall of 2019. During the event, colleagues and superiors spoke. The highest authority of the Corps at the time in the province, Commissioner Estíbaliz Palma, said: “There were 48 hours during which it seemed that the National Police had transformed and, suddenly, they raped, abused and I don’t know what else they did. , that they already “Some of them would like to be raped by a UIP (riot police),” Estíbaliz said, between laughter and jokes. One of the people present said to those recording with their cell phones: “Cut it out! » Local political leaders participated in the meal.
Despite the fact that these facts appear in the recording reported by this newspaper, the TSJM resolves: “If the statements made by Ms. Palma had greater meaning when they were recorded without her knowledge and were broadcast in certain media, This “was not because of the conduct and intentions of the current actress but, regardless of her performance, because she did not know that the sentences she uttered were going to have a greater meaning. »
Among the authorities who participated in the tribute ceremony was the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, of whom a video was shown in which he informed the injured agent that his retirement due to disability “n “It’s not goodbye.” The minister assured him that he would always be an “exemplary companion” and wished him good luck in his new stage of life, with his wife and children. The video was released before Palma’s intervention.
“Pozuelo is a national place, not republican”
María Estíbaliz Palma Varona had been head of the Pontevedra police station since the fall of 2019, a freely appointed position. She herself spoke of her previous destination during the interview in front of her colleagues: “I remember now that I was at the Pozuelo de Alarcón police station when all this happened and that I was already leaving Pozuelo and coming to Pontevedra. Pozuelo is a national place and not a republican one. I mean, it was a great environment when you gave a talk. But there was a moment… my children on social media said: ‘Mom, what are the police doing in Catalonia?'”
At another point, Commissioner Estíbaliz Palma wanted to congratulate the companion of the injured agent and said: “There is a saying that behind a great man there is a good woman. And soon, behind a good woman hides a good man. “Either another woman or fluid.” In the background, you hear: “them, them!” Palma was removed from her freely appointed position, but the police chose to give her a position close to where she had been appointed head of the Pontevedra province.
