The parliamentary groups of PP and Vox have agreed this Thursday in the Assembly of Extremadura to demand that the Government of Spain act in the face of the "abnormal functioning" of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Badajoz.
In this way, the 'popular' have supported the motion for a statement presented by Vox in the plenary session, which has been rejected by PSOE and Unidas por Extremadura.
The Vox deputy Eva María García Alegre has defended the initiative, in which she maintains that the "collapse" of the legal medicine institutes implies, in practice, the abandonment of the justiciable.
The proposal calls for the central Executive to expressly admit the situation of "collapse" suffered by pending files in the Institute of Legal Medicine of Badajoz and to recognize the consequences that this backlog has on the functioning of the Administration of Justice and on the rights of citizens who turn to it.
Likewise, the text urges the adoption of the necessary measures with urgency to guarantee compliance with current regulations on the provision of personal resources, reinforce the psychosocial team of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Badajoz and rectify the "abnormal functioning" of a service considered essential for effective judicial protection, with special emphasis on procedures affecting minors, families and victims of crimes.
Alegre has recalled that the Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences are multidisciplinary technical bodies attached to the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts or, where applicable, to the autonomous communities with powers in justice matters.
Their main function consists of providing support to the Administration of Justice in different scientific and technical areas through the performance of medical expert reports, both clinical and pathological and laboratory, and, when appropriate, through expert reports developed by technical teams.
According to current regulations on judicial demarcation and structure, the province of Badajoz is divided into 14 judicial districts, which the institute's psychosocial support team must cover.
This team is made up of a psychologist and a social worker, a provision that is already "insufficient," according to the Vox deputy.
Positioning of the groups
The PSOE deputy Raquel Medina has criticized that the ideological "residue" of Vox is evident in the proposal, which does not include any mention of machista or gender violence.
She also defended that the situation of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Badajoz has not been neglected, assuring that the Government has launched a reinforcement plan with new staff, reorganization of resources, and structural changes.
"There are real reinforcements with specific dates and profiles," she stated, emphasizing that the Executive had already begun to act even before debating initiatives like this, through referrals to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Cáceres.
In the same vein, the Unidas por Extremadura deputy José Francisco Llera has pointed out that Vox's proposal comes "late" because various measures have already been implemented.
Specifically, he highlighted the announcement of the incorporation, this July, of seven new professionals: three psychologists, three social workers, and one social educator, so that "100 percent" of the institute's technical teams are covered.
"Of course, we want and demand that it be provided with all the necessary means, as we do with healthcare, education, dependency, and any other public service, but we are not going to join the initiative of a group that is at the opposite end of public services as guarantors of a more egalitarian society," she stressed.
For his part, the PP deputy Juan Luis Rodríguez Campos has lashed out at the PSOE's intervention, which he compared to "rigging a solitaire game."
"You think that in this parliament we are fools, you think that citizens are fools, and you think that justice professionals are fools," he stated, referring to the situation of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Badajoz.
In his opinion, minors who are victims of sexual violence and women who suffer gender violence are being "left in the lurch."