A face can finally be singled out of
the ever-increasing number of people already damaged by the new Court fee
system implemented by the Spanish Government, a sad face to look at under the
present circumstances: http://www.betera.com/2013/02/22/betera-se-vuelca-con-sonia/ (in Spanish).
Sonia is a 7 –year old girl who was
born with several malformations. Her parents do believe that those are the
result of medical malpractice, as Sonia’s problems were not duly detected by
doctors during her mother’s pregnancy.
Some years ago her parents started a
legal battle that has proved unsuccessful so far. Now, the only hope left for
them is the Supreme Court, but the new legal scheme means that they are due to
pay the amount of 7.000€ as Court fees to have the right of presenting their
case before the Supreme Court. If the situation were the opposite, namely, a powerful entity considering an
appeal before the Supreme Court as their last alternative, who can doubt what their
decision would be? But in the case of Sonia’s family things are not so simple, as
they have been living with some relatives for more than one year now for want
of money to pay their mortgage.
The reform of the Court fee system
implemented by the Government last week hasn’t come to Sonia’s aid. The law
amendment, hurriedly drafted and approved by the Government bypassing
Parliament again, is probably their response to mounting pressures, especially
those coming from all segments of the legal profession and even from the EU
authorities; most notably, Spanish Judges, Court Secretaries and Public
Prosecutors went on strike last week.
Unfortunately, the amendments made to
the law only have a make-believe appearance. The Government has boasted an 80%
reduction in the Court fees for natural persons as a result of the changes
introduced, but the truth is that the said reduction does not apply to the
fixed part of the fees, only to the variable one. In fact, the Government
itself has disclosed their manoeuvre when declaring in the preamble to the
Decree that amends the law that the new scheme will only entail a 5% decrease
in the proceeds stemming from the Court fees.
For Sonia, the foregoing “fencing”
exhibition simply means that, in the best possible scenario, the requested
amount for her case to be able to access the Supreme Court would be about
3.200€, as far beyond her possibilities as it would be for so many Spanish
people nowadays.
Not only the right to be heard in
Court is recognized by the Spanish Constitution, but also by a huge pile of
international treaties entered into by our country. Let’s face facts: Human
Rights are being violated in Spain.
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