The ruling by the judge in Catarroja to have the Registrar and Court Clerk cease transcribing statements due to the dismissal of civil servants and subsequent lack of resources has been overturned. Pradas's defense argued that refusing transcription violated her right to defense.
The Court highlights the "special complexity" of the case, which investigates the management of the flash flood that claimed 230 lives, involving "many involved parties" and "numerous investigative actions." It asserts that managing "materially accessible information is essential" for the parties and judges.
It considers that limiting documentation to digital media could "severely undermine fundamental procedural rights," such as the right to defense or effective judicial protection. The existence of audiovisual support, it emphasizes, "should not replace written documentation."
The appealed resolution deferred its effectiveness until June 30, 2026, the date when positions of civil servants assigned to the case would be eliminated. The Court deems this date a "future possibility" and revokes the resolution, maintaining transcription until circumstances change.
In any case, if the date of the civil servants' dismissal arrives and they are not duly replaced, "all governmental mechanisms" must be activated to fill the vacant positions. The Court concludes that "it is not proportionate for the judicial organization's problems to affect how proceedings are documented."
