This Thursday, the Valencian Government immediately dismissed the undersecretary of the Department of Justice, Luis Manuel Martín Domínguez, a representative of the far-right VOX political group, after the head of the department, Elisa Núñez, learned on the same day that this high-ranking official was convicted of gender violence in 2011, in a ruling reached by conformity.
This was announced by the spokesperson for the Consell and Minister of Finance, Economy and Public Administration, Ruth Merino, accompanied by the Minister of Justice, after an extraordinary meeting of the full Council.
The dismissal of this senior position has been approved just under two months after his appointment at the end of July. Another representative of VOX, who was a candidate for the Generalitat and later head of the Congress list for Valencia, Carlos Flores, was also convicted in 2002 for violence towards his ex-partner and vetoed by the PP leadership for the government pact with his party in the autonomous government.
VOX famously tout the mantra that violence against women doesn’t exist, a commonly known notion, which didn’t prevent the PP from siding with them in the run up to the elections. VOX also wants to bad gatherings such as the minute’s silence offered as a mark of respect to the victims of gender violence when these tragedies occur.
In her appearance, the Consell spokesperson detailed that Elisa Núñez learned on Thursday morning that the undersecretary was convicted of gender violence, in a 2011 sentence, reached by compliance. Núñez spoke “immediately” with the ‘president’ of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, and the plenary session met this afternoon to discuss an issue that the Executive has described as “serious.”
“This is a breach of absolute trust on the part of the Minister of Justice by not having knowledge of these serious events,” Merino stressed, and has advanced that the new undersecretary will be appointed in the ordinary plenary session next Tuesday.
In addition, she highlighted that “action has been taken quickly because this is a loss of confidence on the part of the person who had appointed this high position.” “Of course, we have responded to this request because it is the most logical thing to do,” she stressed.
For her part, Núñez has confirmed that the high-ranking official who was dismissed was a personal appointment on her part and that he belongs to her party (VOX), while she did not want to give more information about the sentence, considering it “a rather personal issue” and so as not to “violate the right to privacy and respect all data protection legislation.”
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