Fernando Grande-Marlaska

Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez (Spanish pronunciation: [feɾˈnando ˈɣɾande maɾˈlaska]; born 26 July 1962) is a Spanish judge and politician who has served as minister of the Interior since June 2018. An independent politician close to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, he has been Member of the Congress of Deputies from 2019 to 2020, and briefly from August to December 2023, representing Cádiz.

Grande-Marlaska is a well-known judge since the early 2000s for his time at the Audiencia Nacional, where he tried several members of the Basque terrorist group ETA and he led the trial that followed the Yak-42 accident, among other relevant cases. He also served as Member of the General Council of the Judiciary —the governing body of the Spanish judiciary— from 2013 to 2018.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Bilbao, he is the son of Avelino Grande, an officer of the Bilbao Municipal Police. He entered the judicial career in 1987 and served in the Court of First Instance and Inquiry in Santoña, Cantabria, from where he was the investigating magistrate in the case against Rafael Escobedo for the Assassination of the Marquesses of Urquijo. In 1990, he moved to Bilbao's Court of Inquiry No. 2, where he remained for nine years. At that time, he promoted the presiding judge of the Sixth Section of the Criminal Division of the Provincial Court of Biscay.

In 2003, he moved to Madrid as investigating judge of the district of the 36th Court of Inquiry.

In 2004, he was appointed to the Audiencia Nacional as a substitute judge for Judge Baltasar Garzón in the Central Court of Inquiry No. 5, where he made his name at the national level, and was already known as an instructor in Bilbao.