The Penitentiary Surveillance Court No. 10 in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) has granted parole to former Andalusian deputy minister Agustín Barberá, the last of the former high-ranking officials who was in prison for the political aspect of the ERE case, following the proposal initiated by Puerto III Penitentiary Center. Barberá has been granted conditional release from prison for health reasons due to a serious and incurable illness he is suffering from, as detailed in the court order accessed by EL PAÍS. Barberá’s release is not due to the recent Constitutional Court rulings that led to the release of other former high-ranking officials in the ERE case, which was denied in July by the Provincial Court of Seville. The judges stated that Barberá did not appeal for protection before the constitutional court, and therefore, the judgments could not be applied to him “as it is a very personal matter”. Barberá entered prison in April 2023, sentenced to seven years and one day in prison for embezzlement in the political aspect of the ERE case. His defense requested the suspension of the sentence due to the cancer he is suffering from, which has now led to his parole, before José Antonio Griñán did the same for the same reasons. Unlike what happened with the former President of the Junta, the Provincial Court of Seville denied the suspension of the sentence a year and a half ago, considering that, although Barberá was suffering from “a serious and incurable illness”, according to the medical treatment provided by his defense and the report of the penitentiary center, his treatment could be “carried out in said center, with hospital check-ups” he should undergo.
In the court order of the Penitentiary Surveillance Court No. 10 of El Puerto de Santa María, issued after examining a recent medical report, Judge Gloria Martín-Moreno considers “inadequate according to her criteria the continuation of the treatment” of the cancer Barberá suffers in prison and orders his parole also “in view of the advanced stages of the disease”. His lawyer, Alfonso Martínez del Hoyo, celebrated the conditional release of the former deputy minister on Friday. “It is a fair and necessary decision, perfectly suited to the constitutional purposes of the sentence and in the correct application of penitentiary legislation, given that Barberá suffers from a serious and incurable illness,” the lawyer said in statements collected by Europa Press. Barberá’s defense did not file an appeal for protection before the Constitutional Court after the Supreme Court confirmed his conviction for embezzlement and prevarication in the ERE case, as other high-ranking officials who have obtained total or partial protection from the high court and have been released did. “It is the inmate himself who consented to his current situation,” the judges of the Seville Court stated in a resolution known on July 12.
Before Barberá – the last of those imprisoned for the ERE case who remained in prison until now – were released, former Employment Minister Antonio Fernández and former Innovation Deputy Minister Jesús María Rodríguez Román, whose convictions for embezzlement were partially annulled by the Constitutional Court on July 3 and after they requested protection from the constitutional court. Barberá served as second in command in the Employment Department of the Junta de Andalucía when it was led by Antonio Fernández, between 2004 and 2010. His signature appears on numerous payment orders for ERE grants directed at IDEA. The Seville Provincial Court’s 2019 judgment found him guilty for “his direct participation in the disposal of funds and allowing the Director General of Labor [Javier Guerrero, first, and Juan Márquez, later] to dispose of them,” sentencing him to seven years and one day in prison and 18 years of disqualification. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
