STATE prosecutor José Manuel Maza has died in hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, just hours after being admitted due to an infection.
Maza, who turned 66 on October 23, had been on the other side of the Atlantic attending a meeting of the Latin American Association of Public Ministries (AIAMP) when he began to feel unwell and was admitted to hospital.
At the time, his condition was not revealed, but it has now been reported that he had a kidney infection which, although serious, was not expected to be fatal.
Complications set in quickly, though, and Maza, who was diabetic, was unable to fight off the infection.
It is not known whether his diabetes was a contributing factor to his failure to recover.
Spain's minister for justice Rafael Catalá tweeted: “Rest in peace, José Manuel Maza. An extraordinary judge and public servant. The world of law and justice have lost one of their greatest professionals.”
Maza has only been at the helm of the State General Prosecution Service for a year, but became a household name in the last few weeks for his hard-line stance against Catalunya's independence movement.
Staunchly defending the central government's approach, Maza ordered all mayors in the north-eastern region who had agreed to provide venues to use as polling stations on the day of the October 1 referendum to be charged and interrogated.
He also filed action against Catalunya's now-ex president Carles Puigdemont, 13 of his ministers, regional Parliamentary chairwoman Carme Forcadell and five members of the Parliamentary Table for rebellion, sedition and public fund embezzlement as a result of the referendum.
Just this week, Maza had expressed his 'confidence' that his counterparts in Belgium would duly extradite Puigdemont.
Belgian prosecutors have made inquiries about Spanish prisons ahead of their decision.
Maza, who studied a law degree and a foundation degree in criminology at Madrid's Complutense University, graduating in 1973, started his career in the courts 41 years ago.
He has been a judge in courts in Cangas (Pontevedra province, Galicia), Alaquàs (Valencia province), Alcorcón (Madrid) and Madrid city itself.
After 12 years, he was promoted to magistrate and was named chairman of Section 1 of Madrid Provincial Court, where he remained until January 2002 when he became magistrate in Courtroom Two at the Supreme Court, the highest contentious audience in the land.
Maza was proposed as State General Prosecutor after the June 2016 general elections – the second round after an inconclusive election the previous November – and the Council of Ministers and General Judicial Powers Council (CGPJ), the court governing body, approved his nomination on November 25.
Maza's death overseas comes just a week before what would have been his first anniversary in the role.
Other tributes have poured in, including from Spain's president Mariano Rajoy, who tweeted: “The State General Prosecutor José Manuel Maza Martín has passed away. My thanks and appreciation of his lifelong work in service to the State. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Rest in Peace.”
