El caso Couso

Cable en el que se asegura que De la Vega está "muy involucrada"

Según la embajada, el Ministerio de Justicia comunica que el Gobierno trabajará para asistir a EE UU en el proceso

01 dic 2010 - 13:00CET

ID:	107903
Date:	2007-05-11 16:30:00
Origin:	07MADRID899
Source:	Embassy Madrid
Classification:	UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Dunno:	07MADRID800
Destination:	VZCZCXRO2793 OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV DE RUEHMD #0899 1311630 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 111630Z MAY 07 FM AMEMBASSY MADRID TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2501 INFO RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0165 RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 2695
UNCLAS MADRID 000899 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS EUR/WE FOR ALLEGRONE, CLEMENTS AND CERVETTI, L/LEI FOR PROPP, KULISH AND JOHNSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR, PGOV, PREL, SP SUBJECT: SPAIN/COUSO CASE: UPDATE; CONVERSATIONS WITH KEY SPANISH LEADERS REF: A. MADRID 0800 AND PREVIOUS B. LLORENS-ALLEGRONE E-MAIL OF APRIL 30 C. 2007 1. (SBU) DCM Llorens met with Spanish State Secretary for Justice (Deputy Minister-equivalent) Julio Perez Hernandez on May 10 to express USG's strong concern about the formal charges filed in Spain against the three US serviceman named in the legal case filed by family members of the Spanish camaraman Jose Couso, who was killed by US fire during the capture of Baghdad in April 2003 (ref A). DCM was following up on the April 30 discussion between US Ambassador to Spain Aguirre and Spanish First Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega (ref B), in which de la Vega said she was following the case carefully, had reviewed the the documents filed by Judge Pedraz on April 27 and had found no new material in the material or evidence included in the decision nor in the Judge's conclusions. In response to the Ambassador's strong pitch for the government to seriously consider appealing the decision, she said that an appeal was among the options being weighed, but cautioned that the government had to tread carefully in dealing with Spain's independent judiciary. She assured the Ambassador that she was deeply involved in following the case and that it had the attention of the highest levels of the Spanish government. 2. (SBU) In his conversation with the DCM, Perez-Hernandez said that there was still some time availabe for an appeal (despite information last week that the appeal deadline had passed) because the timeline did not start precisely when the case was filed. He said that he understood that the Spanish National Court Chief Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza was considering an appeal. (Perez-Hernandez said that his office was checking on the precise timeline). He said his government shared the USG's concern about this case and said he would follow the case every step of the way and stay in touch with the Embassy. He noted that the government does not control the judiciary and it might be counter-productive to launch a formal government approach, but that the GOS would work with the US to assist in the process. DCM reiterated the USG's deep concern about the case, noting that the USG had conducted a thorough investigation, shared these results with the Spanish government and that the results were clear that the three US servicemen had committed no crime. Our sympathies remained with the families but there was no cause to ruin the lives of the three US servicemen, who were not criminals. DCM vowed to remain in close contact with Perez-Hernandez and his office on the case, and Perez-Hernandez welcome close coordination. Aguirre