Audiencia Provincial autoriza a Carlos Mazón a personarse en la investigación DANA de Catarroja

The Audiencia Provincial de Valencia ruled on June 3 that Carlos Mazón can appear as a party in the criminal investigation into the handling of the October 29, 2024 DANA floods, reversing the Catarroja judge who had denied that request in March. The court said the former president of the Valencian regional government, now a lawmaker in Les Corts, must be allowed to exercise his defense rights because the case includes pending investigative steps that could affect him. The ruling does not make Mazón an accused person in the case, but it gives him access to the proceedings and the ability to participate in them. The flood disaster left 230 people dead in Valencia province, according to RTVE. ### Why did the appeals court overturn the Catarroja judge? The Sección Segunda of the Valencia court said six magistrates accepted Mazón’s appeal against the March 31 order that had refused his appearance in the case. The judges said the investigation is still under way and includes steps “pending” results that could provide information enabling a future inculpation of Mazón. They based the decision on articles 118 and 118 bis of Spain’s criminal procedure law, which govern defense rights. (poderjudicial.es) The March 31 order from the investigating judge had taken the opposite view. The judge said Mazón had been called as a witness, not as a suspect, and that Spanish criminal procedure did not provide for the kind of status his lawyers were seeking. She also said it was not possible to make a forward-looking judgment about whether future evidence might lead to criminal liability. (poderjudicial.es) ### What changes for Mazón now that he is personado? The June 3 ruling allows Mazón to access the court file and take part in the investigation as it develops. RTVE reported that the appeal was backed by the Valencia provincial prosecutor’s office, which had argued in April that the protection of defense rights should extend to people like Mazón, who is aforado before the regional high court because he holds a seat in the Valencian parliament. (rtve.es) The appeals court also made a limit explicit. The judges said their ruling was confined to deciding whether Mazón should be allowed to appear in the case for defense purposes, and that no broader conclusions should be drawn from that decision about issues not covered by the appeal. (rtve.es) ### What investigative steps did the court say could affect him? The pending lines of inquiry cited in RTVE’s account focus on messages exchanged between Mazón and his chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca. The investigating judge had ordered efforts to recover those messages from a phone that Cuenca reset before returning it to the regional government, according to RTVE. (poderjudicial.es) RTVE said the appeals court pointed to the possibility that recovered messages could shed light on Mazón’s possible active involvement, directly or through subordinates, in drafting the Es-Alert emergency message or in delays to sending it. That is the part of the ruling that underpins the court’s reference to a possible future inculpation. (rtve.es) ### How does this fit with the TSJCV’s earlier refusal to investigate him? The TSJCV said on March 16 that it would not open a case against Mazón because it did not see a “solid and objective” basis in the investigating judge’s submission for treating the facts described as criminal conduct. On April 27, the same court said it had unanimously rejected appeals against that decision and confirmed that it would not investigate him. (rtve.es) The June 3 ruling does not reverse those TSJCV decisions. Instead, it addresses a narrower procedural question: whether Mazón, as an aforado and current regional lawmaker, can join the Catarroja proceedings to know and answer investigative activity that may concern him. The appeals court said he should have that opportunity. (poderjudicial.es) ### What happens next in the Catarroja case? The Catarroja court remains in charge of the underlying investigation into the DANA response. RTVE reported in April that the judge had sought conversations from mayors in affected towns and ordered steps aimed at obtaining phone billing and messaging records from people in Mazón’s inner circle. (poderjudicial.es) The next concrete step is the continuation of those evidentiary measures, including the attempt to recover data from José Manuel Cuenca’s phone. Mazón, now admitted as a party for defense purposes, can follow those proceedings from inside the case file while the Catarroja court continues the investigation. (rtve.es) (rtve.es)