The former president of the Generalitat Valenciana Carlos Mazón will not be investigated for his management of the 2024 dana. For now. The Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) has “unanimously” rejected putting the focus of the investigations on this popular man, who on the day of the flood spent almost four hours in a central restaurant in Valencia with a journalist while the province was flooding. The judicial body does not appreciate, in , “a solid and objective foundation” from which “the character of a crime” is derived. The five judges of the high court, with a conservative majority, thus rule out their jurisdiction to open a case against the former presidentaccording to the Valencian TSJ. Being certified due to his status as a regional deputy, Mazón could only be investigated by this judicial body after the investigator observed signs of a crime.
With the movement of the Superior Court, the Catarroja judge will continue to lead the case. After 16 months of investigations, Ruiz Tobarra only maintains as defendants in the catastrophe proceedings, which investigate the crimes of homicide and reckless injuries, the .
To refuse to investigate Mazón, the body emphasizes that the president During the storm, he did not hold the position of guarantor to be punished with the crime of reckless homicide in its form of commission by omission. He maintains that there must be “reinforced evidence of criminality” and a “concrete individualization of the conduct,” something that in his opinion does not occur in this case. “Any suspicion or conjecture is not enough. More or less close positions or indirect allusions are not enough,” the magistrates maintain. The 70-page resolution reminds the judge that “founded and serious indications” and a “clear and concrete accusation with evidentiary support” are necessary to connect the politician with the 230 deaths left by the misfortune of October 29, 2024.
The court also values that its role is to analyze the conduct of the accused “from a criminal point of view” and ignore “moral or political” considerations. “Not all politically or socially debatable and even reprehensible conduct fits into a criminal provision,” he argues. This refers to the expressions used by Catarroja’s instructor. In the reasoned statement that the judge issued on February 24 to request the indictment of Mazón, she accused the popular leader of committing . The judge criticized that the leader of the popular spent “about five hours” with a “passive attitude” in a restaurant booth; and connected the event “with a serious fatal outcome of 230 deaths.”
The ‘president’, without responsibility in civil protection
The magistrates insist that it cannot be concluded that Mazón “infringed specific legal duties derived from a legal obligation.” They point out that the regional legislation does not assign the head of the Consell duties in civil protection and emergency management. And they appreciate that this responsibility falls on the main person investigated in the case, former counselor Salomé Pradas, who acted as sole command during the crisis.
On the cornerstone of the investigation—the delay of It’s Alertthe massive mobile alert that was sent to inform the population of the magnitude of the 2024 damage—the court maintains that Mazón’s involvement pointed out by the instructor “moves into the realm of conjecture.” He defends that it cannot be derived that the head of the Consell influenced this decision for the reasons given by Judge Ruiz Tobarra: the wasaps between Mazón’s former right-hand man and chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca, and former counselor Pradas. “Consequently, in the absence of any minimally founded or credible indication regarding the participation of the authorized party in the sending of the It’s AlertNor, from this perspective, will the Chamber be able to declare itself competent to hear the case,” concludes the resolution, which can be appealed before the court itself within a period of three days.
Among the five judges of the Tsj who have decided the judicial future of the former president They include José Ceres, one of the judges who filed the suit case against former president Francisco Camps in 2009, who was investigating whether the popular received gifts from the Orange Market company, franchise of the Gürtel plot. And the professor of Procedural Law Pía Calderón (speaker), who last February signed an order that closed the door to charging Mazón by rejecting several complaints and complaints.
The magistrates do not rule out, however, possible criminal responsibilities during the judicial investigation. “Naturally, the previous decision does not mean that the procedure cannot continue in the Civil and Investigation Section of the Court of Instance of Catarroja,” they indicate. The resolution praises the “effort and laboriousness of the instructor” and cites jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of July 2025 that inadmissible complaints and complaints against the President of the Government and his ministers for the dana of 2024.
Legal sources analyze that the resolution of the Valencian TSJ does not definitively close the door to investigating Mazón. They point out that, if during the Catarroja judge’s investigation new evidence emerges that incriminates the former presidentsuch as WhatsApp or calls, the judge could try to activate the machinery to accuse people. The other scenario, according to these sources, is that Mazón stops being a regional deputy in 2027, when the elections are expected to be held, and loses his capacity.
The Superior Court’s move comes a week after failing to see sufficient evidence of a crime. And he asked that the case continue in the hands of the Catarroja judge, who this Monday approved extending the investigations for six months.
The victims grouped around the Association of Victims of Dana 29 October 2024, the Association of Fatal Victims of Dana 29-O and the Association of Victims Damaged by DANA de l’Horta Sud de Valencia consider that Mazón should not have a hearing in the case. And they reproach that former president has not voluntarily appeared as an investigator the three times that the Catarroja judge offered him this possibility.
After hearing the news, the president of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, of the PP, has assured that the “unanimity” of the TSJCV decision “makes things very clear.” “There is one thing that is evident,” he stated, referring to the five judges of the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Valencian high court, reports Cristina Vázquez.
