MURCIA has become the first region in Spain to wipe out politician's diplomatic immunity with almost unanimous support from all sides.
Royalty and high-ranking ministers and presidents 'enjoy' a separate legal status which means all cases against them go straight to the Supreme Court, the highest contentious audience in the land.
This speeds up the process, but as former justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón admitted, it can in fact work against the 'diplomatically-immune' because they have no channel for appealing any verdict against them.
Murcia's now-ex president Pedro Antonio Sánchez (PP) – not to be confused with former leader of the socialists and one-time presidential candidate Pedro Sánchez – supported eliminating diplomatic immunity when he was still an MP.
He is currently facing inquiries into possible corruption linked to the Puerto Lumbreras auditorium built when he was mayor of Murcia city.
His diplomatic immunity means his case has leapfrogged the local, provincial and regional courts and gone straight to the Supreme.
Beyond this, the only chance of appeal is if the politician or Royal in question can find some way in which the Supreme Court verdict may be in breach of Spain's Magna Carta, which would allow him or her to apply to the Constitutional Court.
Murcia's opposition members hope the move to eradicate diplomatic immunity will serve as a pioneer for Spain's remaining 16 autonomously-governed regions.
The photograph shows former president Pedro Antonio Sánchez (second from right) alongside PP spokesman Víctor Martínez (second from left) among other party members applauding their MP Francisco Jódar (right).
