Presumption of Innocence

Abstract

The sentence 459/2019, 14th October (Case procés. lndependence of Catalonia) will not go down in legal history probably by the criminal procedural decisions, although a very important part of it has focused on the analyses of the likely violations of fundamental rights of the accused people. lf it did it, it would be by its substantive content, by that materially decided. However, the only possibility that the defense has to get the nullity of the trial has a procedural nature. ln this urgent comment, we will analyze if one possibility, the likely violation of the presumption of innocence, can help to get this nullity. lt seems to me it does not. Although the violation alleged by the defense refers to an extra-procedural fact, the current judicial doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights, confirmed by the Spanish Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, make impossible it to triumph