The president of the National Court (AN), Juan Manuel Fernández, has come out in defense of the "independence" and "impartiality" of Judge María Tardón, the instructor of the case regarding the migration crisis in Ceuta, and has pointed out that he does not understand "at all" why the magistrate is being questioned.
"I believe that statements in that line do not contribute to the strength of the Rule of Law," Fernández stated this Thursday in an interview on 'Hora 25' of Cadena Ser, reported by Europa Press, when asked about the words of the Minister of Transport and Urban Mobility, Óscar Puente, who questioned her impartiality for having been a councilor of the Popular Party.
The president of the AN explained that judges have "fully accepted" the "right to criticism," given that the resolutions they issue "must be motivated exhaustively" and without "extravagant assessments," but emphasized that "one thing is criticism" and "another is to question the role of the judge with appeals to whether they are independent or not."
Referring to Judge Tardón, Fernández reiterated that she is "an exceptional person," with a "broad career" and a marked "public service vocation," which, in his opinion, "does not make her at all deserving of these accusations."
He also emphasized that this is not a case that affects "any political party," but rather "general interests of the State," so there is "no party more committed than another" in this investigation.
"Many judges who have gone into politics have returned to the judiciary and have carried out their work with full independence and impartiality. And we are certainly facing one of those cases in the person of María Tardón," Fernández added, thus claiming the compatibility between a previous political career and subsequent exercise in the judicial career.
In this line, he supported the "absolutely reasonable" statements of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, made this Wednesday on Televisión Española about the judge, and insisted on the need to "highlight her career."
Regarding the indication to the police not to inform their superiors, he specified that "it should not be done in an express manner" because "it is established for members of the judicial police or for those who, not belonging to an organic unit of judicial police, are required by the fiscal or judicial authority to carry out a specific report."
As explained, when that situation occurs "the police act exclusively in the service of the judicial authority without being able to inform about the content of what is being investigated".
Finally, the president of the National Court has assured that there is no instruction of media cases that he finds particularly striking and has rejected that there is politicization in Justice: "I can guarantee you that the vast majority of us are 5,500 people (...) we are not at all politicized".