The local government is once again urging the Ministry not to abolish courts in Benidorm following the CGPJ report rejecting the measure

The Popular Party municipal group of Benidorm City Council, in the local government, has once again demanded that the central government reverse its plans to abolish an Examining Magistrates' Court in the city due to the potential disruption this cut could cause to the normal functioning of the judiciary and the provision of this service to citizens. It did so after learning of the report prepared by the inspection service of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), in which the highest judicial body "joins the opinion already expressed by other legal practitioners and rejects the proposal to abolish an Examining Magistrates' Court in Benidorm and transform it into a Court for Violence against Women," said deputy spokesperson Mónica Gómez. The decision by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice, and Parliamentary Relations to abolish this court, Mónica Gómez recalled, is related to the new Law on the Efficiency of Justice, which will begin to be implemented next October and stipulates that the courts for Violence against Women will have to handle all cases of sexual violence, regardless of whether or not there is a domestic relationship between the aggressor and the victim. "Given the increase in cases that these courts will have to handle, the Government has decided to strengthen the Violence Divisions, which we consider very necessary and with which we fully agree, but not at the cost of abolishing an Investigation Court to create another for Violence, as they intend to do in Benidorm. In other words, with cuts instead of reinforcements," stated the deputy spokesperson for the PP.

The local government already presented a motion to the ordinary plenary session last April, supported by the PP and Vox, with the PSOE voting against, to request the Government to reverse this decision. “In this proposal, we echoed the complaints expressed by judges, prosecutors, judicial officers, and lawyers, who warned of the collapse that the elimination of an Investigative Court would entail in a city like Benidorm,” Gómez explained. “All of these stakeholders consider it unfeasible for only three courts to assume all the work that has been done so far by four, since it would cause direct harm to the citizen seeking justice and to the victim of the crime, who would experience slower, and consequently delayed, justice,” the councilor noted.

These opinions “are now reinforced by the report prepared by the General Council of the Judiciary's inspection service, which conveys the same position: that another magistrate is needed for domestic violence, but not at the cost of eliminating an Investigative Court, since implementing this cut would leave the Benidorm Court of First Instance very close to the maximum case intake limit set by the council itself,” the PP councilor stated.

For this reason, the PP spokesperson has once again demanded that Pedro Sánchez's government reverse its decision and repeal this proposal: "Create a second Violence Court and, at the same time, maintain the four Investigative Courts." She has also called on the PSOE municipal group in Benidorm to "join this petition for the good of Benidorm."

Gómez recalled that "at the plenary session last April, Ms. Escoda and the other six PSOE councilors preferred to side with the cuts, prioritizing partisan votes so as not to anger their leader over the general interest of the citizens of Benidorm, as they have sadly accustomed us to." The councilor lamented that "perhaps the opposition to these cuts from the Judiciary, the Court Clerks, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and various legal practitioner groups wasn't enough for them to vote in favor" and urged them to now, "also seeing the rejection by the General Council of the Judiciary, change their position and defend what is fair for Benidorm, which is nothing less than more courts and fewer cuts."