Judge Dread And The Infanta-cide

He rides a Lawmaster motorbike. He patrols Palma Mega-City One. He dispenses instant justice. Be afraid, be very afraid. Here comes Judge Dread. Dreaded by members of royal families everywhere. Especially Spanish ones.

Judge José Castro, judge of the people, hero of the people, a comic-strip legend roars into the Palma courts on his trusty steed, his high-cylinder "moto". The sword-wielding, Kendo-practising judge issues his 167 tablets of stone, his "auto". Moto, auto, whatever. Zap, pow, Judge Dread has spoken, and the word is Infanta-cide. Somewhere in Geneva, the Infanta Cristina, just returned home from the day job with the La Caixa bank foundation, shudders with horror. She has someone to comfort her, though. The Queen Mum, recently relieved of royal duties, has arrived to be at her side. Sofia hasn't seen Cristina for a while. Her daughter wasn't around for the abdication or the proclamation. She is the sidelined royal. The "new" royal family doesn't, strictly speaking, include her. Sidelined royal. Airbrushed royal? Dispensable royal? Judge Dread thinks so. He has dispensed his justice.

But who is this? Into the OK Corral of the Palma courts strolls a fearless lawman. Sheriff Pedro Horrach, a fighter of corruption, just like Judge Dread. But only one of them, on this day, can audition for Elliot Ness. Has Horrach switched sides? This is their Tombstone. Their duel, their gunfight. Horrach, the prosecutor but defender of the Infanta. Castro, her accuser.

Horrach, till now the Untouchable, is risking all. He is lining up against the people's hero. But then Castro is also risking all. Or is he? Horrach has years to go to retirement. Castro could call it a day today if he wanted to, his reputation intact. Their duel has only just begun. Former allies now separated and staring at each other across the Court's Corral, the intense heat of summer burning down on them. Who will be the first to flinch? Go for your denuncia, shouts Castro. Condemn me for abuse of position, if you dare.

Persecution of the Princess, claims Horrach, who has never wavered from his view that there is no case to answer. Disrespect has been shown to me, counters Castro, who adds: "A judge can lose impartiality, just as a prosecutor can lose impartiality. This is an inherent human risk. But I do not believe that a judge is more vulnerable than a prosecutor to losing impartiality."

Partiality or impartiality, the duel will continue at least until the Audiencia court in Palma decides if Castro's indictment, his Infanta-cide, will stand. But who's to say that its decision will be the final word? No one.

MALLORCA TODAY - The whole case against Urdangarin will be archived?

If you don't read Spanish well, the link to this article might prove a bit difficult. You can try putting into Google Translate and it will make some sense and probably sufficient to get the gist. Written by the excellent Matías Vallés, it suggests that the state prosecutor wants the case against Princess Cristina and her private secretary, Carlos García Revenga, to be archived, i.e. case not proven, everyone forgets about it, and Urdangarin's defence "smoothed".

Vallés says that he was originally against the indictment of Princess Cristina but that he has been persuaded to think otherwise by the Torres emails. I don't know that I agree with him. On the basis of what has been published by "El Pais" of the emails, I don't feel they are as damaging as is being made out, but there is always the possibility that emails that haven't been disclosed are potentially more harmful. Regardless of this, however, there is, as I have said in a previous article, good reason for the Princess to answer questions, if only regarding a possible abuse of her position, which is not the same as the principal allegations that have been made.

Vallés, though, sees the suspension of the subpoena of Princess Cristina as a step in the archiving of the case, and he may of course be right. The problem is that, as soon as Judge Castro issued the subpoena, to go back on it would potentially be more harmful than the Princess having to appear before him. The Spanish Government may worry about the harm being caused to the country's image because of the case, but the harm will be greater if it appears that there has been some form of stitch-up and the case is dropped.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Judge wants to see proposal for tourism forum

I wouldn't for one moment claim that Judge Castro, who is the one in charge of the caso Palma Arena of which the affairs of Iñaki Urdangarin form a part, reads what I have to say, but on 11 July I mentioned the sports tourism forum to be held in Palma in October and referred to the fact that it was precisely such a forum, and the invoices that ended up with the regional government, that was the starting-point for the investigation into Urdangarin's affairs through his organisation, the Instituto Nóos. Anyway, Judge Castro has demanded that the tourism ministry lets him see the proposal regarding the forum that is scheduled for October.