Magdalena Álvarez, former counselor of Economy and Finance of the Junta de Andalucía, expressed her emotions after the Constitutional Court partially granted her protection on Wednesday for her nine-year disqualification sentence for the ERE fraud in 2009. The court ruled that the Court of Seville must draft a new sentence for Alvarez, substantially reducing the imposed sentence, after interpreting differently what constitutes committing prevarication. Alvarez, who is also a former minister of the PSOE, described the past years as a period of hope following what she believes was the biggest political and media witch hunt of democracy.
Alvarez, who had remained silent for over 15 years out of respect for the courts and in the hope that her honesty would be recognized, remarked that she had to endure reprehensible comments that affected both her family and her personally and professionally. The Constitutional Court’s ruling found that fundamental rights of Alvarez were violated because the Court of Seville and the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the crime of prevarication, wrongly applying it to budget bills. The Court stated that budget bills are legislative, not administrative resolutions, and are subject only to constitutional, not legal, scrutiny.
The opposition party, PP, criticized the Constitutional Court’s ruling, calling it a scandal and a backdoor pardon. In response, Alvarez demanded the same respect for the justice system that she claims to have shown, emphasizing that she always believed the judicial process would end in acquittal as she had only followed the prevailing law during her public responsibilities. Alvarez described the ERE case as the biggest political and media witch hunt of democracy and expressed her desire for all unjustly convicted individuals to reclaim their lives.
Alvarez highlighted that the ERE case was a political setup that has come to light, but stressed that they were not the only ones targeted and thanked her unconditional supporters during a time of unmeasurable harassment. Out of the 15 individuals convicted in the ERE case, 12 have appealed to the Constitutional Court. Two of those appeals have been resolved (Alvarez and ex-counselor José Antonio Viera, whose appeal was dismissed this week), with the remaining appeals expected to be resolved before August.
In conclusion, the ruling of the Constitutional Court in favor of Magdalena Álvarez has partially granted her protection and required a revision of her sentence for the ERE fraud case. Alvarez expressed her emotions and hope after enduring years of what she believes was a political and media witch hunt. The ruling highlighted the misinterpretation of the crime of prevarication in the case, bringing attention to the violation of fundamental rights of Alvarez. The response from the opposition party, PP, criticized the ruling, while Alvarez called for respect for the justice system and emphasized her belief in eventual acquittal. The ERE case was described as a political setup, and Alvarez expressed her wishes for all unfairly convicted individuals to reclaim their lives.
