Decree of Initiation by the Chief Prosecutor of Bilbao

Two dates suffice to examine this resolution: that of the expert report provided and that of the decree declaring there is nothing new.

The decree

• Handed down by the Chief Prosecutor of Bizkaia in administrative file 168/2023, with a resolution of November 2023.
• Basis: the submissions would reiterate previous arguments and provide no new elements.
• It refers the complainant to other competent bodies, without carrying out any step.

The two dates

• 19 July 2023: issue of the forensic criminalistics report concluding the repeated alteration of the trial recordings (A.33). There is no prior step in the case containing that report: it is, by date and by content, new.
• November 2023: the decree declares the absence of new elements.

The framework of the prosecutorial duty

Article 5 of the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office and Article 773.2 of the Criminal Procedure Act order, on receipt of a complaint, the carrying out of verification steps or a reasoned filing. A filing whose basis — the absence of novelty — is belied by the date of the document provided raises its own question of reasoning.

How to verify it

Place the decree beside the expert report: date against date. Then look in the decree for a single line examining the expert's conclusions. The complete check requires two documents and one minute.