UNIMAGINABLE INJUSTICE IN SPAIN

 Hi Ads,

Thanks for your response dated 22^nd December and kind words of sympathy.  We have just learnt that the judge who has wrecked our lives has now left Estepona court and her replacement is due to arrive in the New Year. This judge will have 10 days to install herself before hearing any cases, then at the end of January will be leaving for another circuit. The judge is allowed 10 days prior to leaving to put outstanding matters in order – consequently the judge´s power in Estepona will only last 10 days – just how ridiculous is this !!! – A new judge will arrive in February and after his or her first 10 days will might be able to put demands in for the answers to our original oppositions entered on the 2^nd September and the 25^th October to which we still have not even received official recognition of existence.

Referring to my case – so many  people find it hard to believe and are convinced there is some facts not being revealed – this is certainly not the case – what is a fact is the gross injustice perpetrated by the Estepona Court House .

In its simplest form to understand this disgraceful legal incompetence - this is what needs to be considered.

My wife was taken to court by the Nominees of my company to have her removed from my property on the grounds that her tenancy arrangements established between her and I had come to an end. In 2007 the lady judge in Estepona saw in favour of my company, acting under the direction of my nominees as plaintiff, and order her eviction. This was appealed before Malaga Appeal Court where the eviction of my wife was upheld, however the Appeal Court Judges reviewing all the evidence and with a good understanding of the complications of fiduciary law, identified correctly that I was in fact (using their words)  the “authentic” owner of the company and therefore the owner of the property in litigation (the property I built under the name of my company and have lived in with my wife and family since 1986). The Appeal Court issued a supplementary sentence stating that in this particular case against my wife, I could not and should not be removed. 

When these sentences arrived at Estepona  for preparation of execution sentence, unauthorised changes were made to include myself to be evicted from the property. This “altered” sentence was issued on the 8^th June but took seven weeks to travel the 4 kms to my home, arriving on the last day of July half an hour before the courts were closing for summer. Our first opportunity to enter opposition against these unauthorised changes was the 2^nd September (29^th Decemeber, we still have not received either acknowledgement or answers. When the eviction date arrived on the 19^th October – it was not the court orders of Malaga Appeal Court that ordered my entire family from our property – it was the local police under the orders of the lady judge (not the same lady judge as the first hearing – this one has only served six months at Estepona and evidently knows nothing about upholding the laws or respecting sentences from higher courts) Possession was lost in that moment.

An immediate appeal was entered after the eviction for explanation as to why the orders of Malaga had not been respected- needless to say this too, has not been acknowledged or responded to. We cannot appeal back to the higher Appeal Court of Malaga until Estepona Court answers in the first instance – so we are caught in a “catch 22”. Once they finally answer, which undoubtedly will be in the negative – we will then have the opportunity to appeal to Malaga where hopefully they will re-insist on their sentences being upheld and very possibly order a reversal of the eviction against me and my reinstatement into my property. In the meantime my gardens are being bulldozed with trees planted during the last twenty five years being uprooted, garden beds destroyed. And added to this vandalism has now shown its ugly head by having two external doors smashed in and brand new windows and their frames cut out and stolen, pipes cut and the main water heater stolen – with all the digging and destruction of the gardens and now window and door openings boarded up – our beautiful home of twenty five years in resembling an abandoned property and just inviting vandals to do their business. It is so pitiful to think that just three months ago we, as a family of 8 through three generations were living in a our beautiful home with the most exquisite gardens, all in perfect condition. And now, because of a reckless illegal decision by a stupid, irresponsible judge with no experience of matters before her and ignoring orders from a higher court,  has destroyed our  dreams, our future, broken up our family and allowed our 2,000,000 euro home to be legally stolen by a ruthless, Gibraltar based bank that has never had an interest in it, never visited it, never provided a mortgage for it, has no registered charges against it – Maybe it’s my imagination but could a bank really stoop so low as to “influence” the judge in some way ???????

Anyone picking up on these comments and wondering what this is all about please read a fuller account of this terrible nightmare on two earlier blogs :-

“OUR HOME HAS BEEN STOLEN” dated 27^th November

“UNIMAGINABLE INJUSTICE IN SPAIN”  - “JUDGE ORDERED MY HOME TO BE STOLEN” dated 15^th December

I would welcome any constructive comments, especially from any lawyers that can explain the ways in which justice is administered in Spain and where is one´s rights to defend themselves and protect their property; especially against a judiciary where even the judges fail to respect the laws they are supposed to be upholding

Any relevant comments can be directed to me directly on    peterestepona@hotmail.com

Peter - Estepona

Peter2010

 Seven weeks ago I had  my 2,000,000 euro home stolen from me through a very simple civil action where false and misleading evidence was entered into court and worst of all accepted as the truth by the lady judge.  A ruthless Gibraltar Bank have used my property owning company to circumvent their own limitations to settle a claimed dispute dating back to 1993 originating in Gibraltar, by coming into Spain to seize my property with the help of a civil justice system that permits prosecution evidence to be entered but denies the defendant the right to oppose, or produce contrary defence evidence if the judge so decides.

But what is more horrifying is that no case was brought against me, no accusations made of illegal occupation levelled against me, no opportunity for me to appear before a judge to defend myself and yet this lady judge took it upon herself to have me abandon my home with one hour´s notice. This is a home I built in 1985 and have lived in with my family for the last 25 years. There are no mortgages, liens, encumbrances or any charges registered against the property. Despite instructions from a higher court, recognising me as the “authentic” owner of my company and in consequence the owner of my property, and furthermore stating that I could not be removed  from the property – this local lady judge decided to ignore these higher court orders and instructed the local police to have me removed from my property and possession given over to this bank. A bank with a record of misconduct, associated to criminal activity, bankers for  Mr Mugabi´s business associate and many other dubious customers – just this year alone they were fined 1,700,000 euros by the Spanish Supreme Court for its involvement in a money laundering case and previous to this, it´s head office was ordered to repay over 100,000,000 euros to customers that they falsely sold investment products to . And even earlier than this, an ex-managing director of this bank absconded with over 71,000,000 pounds (yes seventy one million pounds) most of which, to be used in fraudulent land deals on the Costa del Sol. And yet the  judge believed the  lies and deception this bank had to offer. If this all sounds like “irregularities” within the local justice system then you will sympathise with the horrific predicament I find myself in which has destroyed my marriage, broken up our family of eight that lived together (two daughters, their Spanish husbands and two granddaughters) and put my poor wife under medical supervision.

Unlike the legal systems of Britian and most other civilised countries, the presumption of innocence does not exist in Spanish civil law. Use of available defence evidence can be denied in civil cases, right of protection by the courts and judges can also be denied in civil cases. Despite entering defence evidence, the power to consider whether it can be acknowledged lies with the judges  alone, not statutes or other legal obligations as would be provided in criminal law or British civil law. A local judge  if he, or she so chooses, can ignore higher court rulings and can impose their own sentencing without being questioned  or disciplinary action being taken against them.

Anyone may be forgiven for believing that fair justice is a right in civil cases in Spain. Civil Law in Spain does not  provide citizens with the provisions enshrined within the Spanish Constitution art. 24 Nos. 1 & 2.  These conditions are only available for criminals or suspected criminals and form part of the penal code – not civil code.

If anyone has had a similar, inhumane, horrifying experience or any lawyer of legal specialist can prove my statements about the justice system to the contrary, and would perhaps like to help me in my fight, I would very much like to have urgent contact with them.

Peter – Estepona

I can be contacted on peterestepona@hotmail.com