Julián Artemio Sánchez Melgar (born 19 September 1955), is a Spanish judge and prosecutor currently serving as magistrate of the Second Chamber of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. He was the 90th

Attorney General of Spain The Attorney General of the State ''(')'', or also, Prosecutor General, is the head of the Prosecution Ministry, Public Prosecutor's Office (''Ministerio Fiscal''), the independent body within the Judiciary, that is tasked with promoting the opera ...

from December 2017 to June 2018. Because of being attorney general he was also member of the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

. He is considered a Magistrate with a conservative profile.

Biography

He have a law degree from the

University of Valladolid The University of Valladolid is a public university located in the city of Valladolid, Valladolid province, autonomous region of Castile and Leon, Spain. Established in the 13th century, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. The ...

, and Doctor of Law from the University of La Coruña, with an extraordinary prize. Acceded to the judicial career in 1983, being destined to the courts of

Reinosa Reinosa is a municipality in Cantabria, Spain. , it has 10,307 inhabitants. The municipality, one of the smallest by land area in Cantabria, is notable for being one of the nearest towns to the headwaters of the Ebro River. It is surrounded by th ...

Miranda de Ebro Miranda de Ebro () is a Spanish municipality belonging to the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Straddling the Ebro river, near its confluence with the Bayas, the city is located on the northern watershed of the ...

and

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

, ascending to magistrate by the turn of selective tests, in 1987 (number 2 of its promotion). Destined in the then Territorial Court of

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Santander, magistrate of the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

(1993), president of the Audiencia Provincial de

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

(1993-2000), and magistrate of the Second Chamber of the

. He has been Vocal of the Governing Board of the Judicial School and was a substitute control magistrate of the National Intelligence Center, until his replacement in December 2017 for his appointment as State Attorney General. On 24 November 2017, he was appointed by the Government of

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

as the future Attorney General of the State, replacing José Manuel Maza, who died suddenly in Argentina six days earlier. On 7 December 2017, after passing the evaluation the

General Council of the Judiciary The General Council of the Judiciary (, CGPJ) is the national council of the judiciary of Spain. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it is established by the Spanish Constitut ...

and of the

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

, the government approved his appointment and he was sworn in before the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

on 11 December. and took the office on 12th On 25 January 2018, he took office as a born member of the

. After the successful motion of no confidence against the government of Mariano Rajoy, he was dismissed on June 29, 2018 and Maria José Segarra was appointed Attorney General.

Cases

He has been a speaker in the case of Nevenka Fernández against , and in plenary on July 23, 2014 (narco-boats). He has intervened in the case of the

Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat Trijet, three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airliner produced in the Sovie ...

, in the Ibarretxe and

Patxi López Francisco Javier "Patxi" López Álvarez (; born 4 October 1959) is a Spanish politician serving as Member of the Congress of Deputies and chair of the Constitutional Committee. He has only completed secondary education but never graduated fro ...

case, in the request for a petition for Bárcenas and Merino at

Gürtel case The Gürtel case was a major political corruption scandal in Spain that implicated hundreds of officers of the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), Spain's major Conservatism, conservative party, some of whom were subsequently forced to ...

. He has intervened with a private vote in the

Emilio Botín Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, ''iure uxoris'' Marquess of O'Shea (1 October 1934 – 10 September 2014) was a Spanish banker.Juan María Atutxa case. He has also intervened in the case of the

Historical Memory Law Law 52/2007, commonly known as Historical Memory Law (Sp: ''Ley de Memoria Histórica''), recognises and broadens "the rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictator ...

against

Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...

, in the Marta del Castillo murder case, in the delimitation of Universal Justice and in the case against Pablo Iglesias about illegal funding.

Parot doctrine

He was speaker and main defender of the

Parot doctrine The Parot doctrine (Spanish: ''doctrina Parot'', ) refers to a 2006 Spanish Supreme Court decision to deny persons convicted of serious crimes specific rights that are granted by Spanish law that limit or reduce the maximum term of imprisonment. Th ...

, designed to impose full compliance with the sentences of ETA members and others convicted of serious crimes. Despite having been partially endorsed by the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

, the Parot doctrine was appealed by Inés del Río and annulled by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

, considering that it violated articles 5.1 and 7 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

2017-18 Spanish constitutional crisis

On 31 October 2017, the Office of the Prosecutor presented a complaint against the members of the sovereign process of Catalonia after the dissolution of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

; that is, against its president

Carme Forcadell Maria Carme Forcadell i Lluís (; born 29 May 1955) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. She is the former President of the Parliament of Catalonia, as well as a Catalan high school teacher, known for her Catalan independence activism. She w ...

and the rest of the members of the Parliamentary Bureau who had voted for the declaration of independence:

Anna Simó Anna Simó i Castelló (born 26 July 1968) is a Spanish Catalan politician. A member of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), she became the Minister of Social Welfare and Family Affairs of the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2003 as part of the fi ...

, Lluís Corominas, Lluís Guinó, Ramona Barrufet i Santacana and

Joan Josep Nuet Joan Josep Nuet i Pujals (born 6 August 1964) is a Spaniards, Spanish politician from Catalonia who previously served as Member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was previously a member of the Senate of Spain and the Parliament of Catalon ...

. The Admissions Chamber of the Supreme Court declared itself competent and appointed Llarena as examining magistrate. Among the five members of the Supreme Court who voted in favor of the admission of the complaint by the attorney general, was Sánchez Melgar who, after Maza's death, became head of the

Prosecution Ministry The Prosecution Ministry () or Public Prosecutor's Office is a constitutional body ( Part VIbr>§ 124 which has full autonomy within the judiciary of Spain. It is entrusted with defending the rule of law, the rights of the citizens, and publi ...

.El Gobierno elige a Julián Sánchez Melgar para sustituir a Maza en la Fiscalía General

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Melgar, Julian 1955 births Living people 21st-century Spanish judges Attorneys general of Spain 20th-century Spanish judges Prosecutors general of Spain People from Palencia

Biography

Cases

Parot doctrine

2017-18 Spanish constitutional crisis

See also

References