He has always kept silent about what happened in the spring of 2020 when he had to instruct the first lawsuit filed against the former Government delegate in Madrid José Manuel Franco, for allowing the feminist demonstrations of 8-M to be held in the capital in full expansion of the coronavirus.
The weeks that she directed that judicial investigation were intense for a magistrate who is committed to the causes she takes on and who does not shy away from the especially mediatic procedures (she was also the instructor of the master case of the former president of the Community of Madrid Cristina Cifuentes and of the former president of the Popular Party Pablo Casado).
However, the most traumatic episode experienced during those days occurred when the Ministry of the Interior decided to terminate Civil Guard Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos with a sudden dismissal for refusing to provide them with information about the cause of 8-M.
Yesterday, Judge Rodríguez-Medel presented her book on the European Prosecutor’s Office at the Ateneo de Madrid (European Prosecutor’s Office: First year of application of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 and the Organic Law) and, in said publication, the instructor took advantage of the occasion to break his silence and make a strong defense of the role played by the colonel, as EL MUNDO has learned.
“I want to specifically mention Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, who has been very present in my reflections while writing about one of the basic pillars of this new body (in reference to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office): independence,” the book collects.
Next, the magistrate dedicated these heartfelt words to the high command of the Armed Institute: «I can think of no one else in the recent history of Spain who has paid such a high professional price for defending the independence of the judicial police against political interference ». The gown concluded by emphasizing her “sincere recognition” of the work carried out by the colonel and her “deep gratitude” towards him.
The truth is that the instructor put the Ministry headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska on the ropes on May 25, 2020 when she learned of the dismissal of Pérez de los Cobos. The colonel, Interior had informed him on Sunday, May 24, past 10:30 p.m. his sudden dismissal and at 9:27 a.m. the next day he sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Security where he warned him of the obligation that the Police had Judiciary to keep “rigorously reserved about the evolution and result of the specific investigations that have been entrusted to it, as well as all the information that, through them, they obtain so that only this magistrate-judge will be informed.”
A note signed by the director of the Civil Guard, María Gámez, highlighted that the “loss of confidence” in the high police position occurred “for not reporting the development of investigations and actions of the Civil Guard, within the operational framework and the Judicial Police, for knowledge purposes”.
That dismissal has been appealed by the colonel as arbitrary before the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court, which is pending a ruling on the matter.
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