Hélène Davo with Ambassador Saint-Geours and Minister Rafael Catalá.
The Diplomat. 15/12/2016
On Tuesday, the most outstanding personalities of the judicial and police world in Spain attended, at the French Ambassador’s residence, the farewell event for Hélène Davo, who has been the liaison judge between both countries and who, in January, will start presiding over the French Counter-terrorist Court, where the judge Laurence Le Vert worked for many years.
As well as by the French Ambassador, Yves Saint-Geours, the event was attended by the Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá, along with his predecessor in the position, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, and the former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Also present were the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ in its Spanish acronym), Carlos Lesmes; the new Director of Public Prosecutions, José Manuel Maza, and his predecessors Cándido Conde-Pumpido, Eduardo Torres-Dulce and Consuelo Madrigal.
Ruiz-Gallardón, Maza, Hélène Davo, Rodríguez-Zapatero y Lesmes.
Lesmes, Catalá, Gallardón and Zapatero accompanied the new head of the French Counter-terrorist Court
The event was also attended by, among others, the president of the National Court, José Ramón Navarro; the head prosecutor of the National Court, Javier Zaragoza; the magistrate of the Constitutional Court, Antonio Narváez; the president of the criminal court of the National Court and member of the CGPJ, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the court presidents of the Supreme Court, Manuel Marchena and Luis Díez-Picazo; Spain’s liaison judge in France, Javier Gómez-Bermúdez, and his predecessor Juan Pablo González; the anti-drug prosecutor, José Ramón Noreña; and the prosecutor specialized in corruption cases, Antonio Salinas.
The French liaison judge was also accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry of Justice; as well as by the secretary general of the Penitentiary Administration, Ángel Yuste; the general superintendent of Information of the National Police, Enrique Barón; and several generals of the Civil Guard, ambassadors and diplomats.
Hélêne Davo thanked, in her speech, the support given by the Spanish authorities during the four years she had held the position, emphasizing the climate of trust created between both countries and their judicial and police institutions. Among other things, she pointed out that the experience gained in the fight against ETA will be very useful to fight against jihadist terrorism.
During the four years and a half she has stayed in Spain, the judge has received, in appreciation for her work in favour of the Spanish-French cooperation, the Cross of Honour of the Order of St. Raymond of Peñafort, granted by the Ministry of Justice; the Silver Medal to the Penitentiary Merit, granted by the Ministry of the Interior; and the Medal to the Merit of the Civil Guard.
