Five years after the closure of the airspace, 20 out of 22 spanish courts that opened criminal cases, have now closed their proceedings
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FIVE YEARS AFTER THE CLOSURE OF THE AIRSPACE, 20 OUT OF 22 SPANISH COURTS THAT OPENED CRIMINAL CASES AGAINST AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, HAVE NOW CLOSED THEIR PROCEEDINGS. ONLY MADRID AND BALEARES REMAIN OPEN .- The 20 courthouses that closed their proceedings considered that there was no evidence of offenses by the controllers, since they didn’t abandon their working positions on the 3rd December 2010. .- Madrid air traffic controllers are waiting for a court ruling with regards to the legal remedy they presented on the Madrid Provincial Court against their indictment in a cause that has been in the hands of ten different judges. .- In Palma de Mallorca, the Provincial Court ordered the judge to reopen the case focusing on new diligences. |
| Madrid, 3rd December 2015
Five years after the closure of the airspace, 20 out of the 22 courthouses that opened criminal cases against air traffic controllers after the air traffic chaos in 2010, have closed their proceedings considering that there was no such abandonment of the working position, nor any “joint nor concerted action of the collective as a whole”. Only Madrid and Baleares are still waiting for a resolution of the conflict. The court resolutions issued so far during these five years dismiss any responsibility by the air traffic controllers in the adjudicated facts and, as is the case in Santiago de Compostela, they sentence that the airspace was not closed due to a lack of air traffic controllers, but to a decision taken by AENA, who imposed the Zero Rate. In Palma de Mallorca, the Court of Instruction nr1 dismissed the proceedings in February 2014. However, the Provincial Court reopened the case focusing on medical aspects. In Madrid, the Provincial Court has to decide on the appeals presented regarding the judge resolution that maintains the charges against 138 air traffic controllers working in the Torrejón Control Centre, after their case has passed through 10 different judges’ hands. The large amount of evidence, which these courthouses have been presented with, proves that the controllers were operational on the afternoon of the 3rd of December 2010, and that they never abandoned their working positions. USCA is convinced that the court proceedings in Palma de Mallorca and Madrid will end up with the same conclusions reached in the other twenty courtrooms, excluding the air traffic controllers from any liability, since the facts that are being judged are the same, and because, as mentioned in the judicial writ of Santiago, which was ratified by the A Coruña Provincial Court, regarding the closure of the airspace: we are facing a political decision made by those who had competences for such.
After five years, and because we want to shed light on the true reasons behind the events in 2010, USCA is preparing #ATCOsDossier2010, a thorough research material, both in printed and audiovisual format, which will analyse in depth the causes and consequences of that conflict, which resulted in AENA closing the airspace. This work will culminate with the presentation of a documentary which will contain air traffic controllers’ testimonies, but also other professionals’, such as jurists and civil aviation experts, who will offer their vision about the conflict and the consequences it had on such sensitive issues as air safety. As an introduction of this documentary, USCA released on the 3rd December a trailer which summarizes, through several testimonies, what happened in the Spanish airports on the 3rd of December 2010, and exposes AENA’s and the Ministry of Transport’s lies about a massive air traffic controllers’ abandonment of their working positions, as it would be later proved in court, with the only aim to hide their own political errors.
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