The Galician judge José Antonio Vázquez Taín, investigator in cases such as the crime of the Asunta girl or the theft of the Calixtino Code, must be absent from judicial activity for 10 days. This is the sanction imposed on him by the Disciplinary Commission of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) after opening a file on him last June for carrying out activities incompatible with his position as a judge. Sources from the governing body of judges have confirmed the sanction proposed by El Español and that it responds to a very serious offense, although the punishment imposed is one of the lightest available in these cases (very serious offenses are punished with up to 30% punished). up to three years suspension from judicial activity, forced relocation of destination or even exclusion from professional life).
Vázquez Taín is one of the most famous judges in Galicia, both for his work as a lecturer in high-profile cases and for his participation in many other activities outside the judiciary, such as radio and television meetings, novelist or documentary film director. The decision to open proceedings against him came after the proponent of the CGPJ disciplinary measure verified that the judge carried out activities incompatible with justice without obtaining the permission of the senior judicial body. Sources from that panel pointed to the creation of a film production, exhibition and marketing company with which the judge was allegedly associated. According to council sources, Vázquez Taín founded the production company with his wife in April 2022 and then applied for mandatory approval from the council, but the CGPJ rejected it. Nevertheless, he continued his involvement in the company, which, according to sources, he parted ways with last June after learning of the file opened by the CGPJ.
The Galician judge has presented two audiovisual works in recent years. The first of them, Peregrinas, is a 2022 documentary about women on the Camino de Santiago, which the judge praised as his first audiovisual experience. The work, produced by the company Mundo Redondo Producciones, was sponsored by the Xunta de Galicia and the Xacobeo 21-22. Last March he presented The Mozarabic Path: Blood, Sweat and Faith, a documentary that tells the story of the Vía de la Plata, produced by the company Amarola Producciones, of which his wife, the lawyer Beatriz Seijo Méndez, is the sole administrator. The company’s corporate purpose is “the production, screening, distribution and marketing of cinema productions and products of all kinds in a wide variety of areas.”
The Organic Law of Justice allows judges and magistrates to make their work compatible with teaching and legal research, as well as with literary, artistic and technical production and creation, but prohibits “direct, administrative or economic participation in companies or companies”. , public or private, of any kind.” For this reason, although Vázquez Taín has been working for years as a talk show host or novelist, he has been punished for participating in a company, which is prohibited by law. The judge may appeal the sanction before the plenary session of the CGPJ and subsequently before the Supreme Court.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits