A magistrate from Madrid has decided to initiate preliminary proceedings following the complaint filed regarding the episode of the pepper spray canister that the PP deputy Ana Vázquez showed in the Congress of Deputies, and has required the complaining parliamentarians to provide the corresponding injury reports.
The decision was made by Judge Pedro Merchante, head of the Court of Plaza Number 6 of the Instruction Section of the Court of Instance, as reported by "Okdiario" and confirmed to Europa Press by various legal sources.
According to these sources, Merchante has urged the deputies who filed the complaint to send the medical documentation regarding possible injuries before deciding whether or not to open a criminal investigation in the strict sense.
In parallel to the judicial route, the Congress of Deputies concluded the processing of the sanctioning file initiated against Vázquez as a consequence of the early dissolution of the Cortes due to the call for general elections on November 29.
PSOE and Sumar, which hold a majority in the Congress Table, had already agreed to impose a punishment consisting of a week of suspension from employment and salary.
However, the proposal from the Table had to be submitted for ratification by the Plenary, and the dissolution of the Cortes rendered the procedure ineffective, as it became impossible to hold the plenary session provided for in the Regulations to confirm the sanction.
Despite this, the Permanent Deputation Table has issued a reprimand to the parliamentarian, considering that the incident that occurred in the Plenary on September 23 is of "undoubted seriousness."
The governing body reminds that, according to the Regulations, the entry of weapons into the parliamentary headquarters is "completely and unconditionally" prohibited and that "this is a limit that no other deputy has exceeded during this constitutional period."
"The responsible individuals should not confuse the impossibility of imposing a sanction due to the early dissolution of Congress with a pardon of their conduct," warned the Table in a document accessed by Europa Press.
In that document, it is emphasized that Vázquez, who continues to be part of the Permanent Deputation, is "politically responsible for a serious violation of the Regulations" for having introduced into Parliament a "weapon" that affected "dozens of people," one of them with a medical leave, forced the evacuation of offices in three different buildings, and generated "considerable" economic damages.
"His behavior in the hemicycle, his decision to display for a few hours a pepper spray in the chamber of the House, and his attempt to shift the responsibility to a subordinate" constitute, in the opinion of the Board, "reprehensible and harmful" conduct for the General Courts.