The controversial judge of the National High Court Angela Murillo dies at the age of 74

The well-knownjudge of the National High Court (AN) Angela Murillo died yesterday, Friday, at the age of 74, according to sources from that court today. 

During his 30 years of career, Murillo became known not only for acting as a judgein the Bateragune case   or in the 18/98 macro trial, but also for his attitudes towards them, as he conducted several media trials in recent years, both against ETA and leaders of the left abertzale, such as the Bankia Stock Exchange or the Necora case against drug trafficking.

Murillo was the first womanto enter and run the Criminal Court of the National High Court. 

For some, Murillo was the "hard hand" of the Spanish state against ETA and its environment; for others, his was the most visible face of the lackof impartiality of the courts.

In 2011, in the trial for the attack on UPN leader José Javier Mugica, and believing that the microphone had been turned off, he called García Gaztelu and the other three defendants "bastards." The National High Court dismissed the judge from the case. 

Earlier, in the Bateragune trialin 2010, a similar situation occurred and the European Court of Human Rights overturned the conviction for lack of impartiality of the judge. There were several inappropriate statements by Murillo. The face-to-face with Arnaldo Otegi is perhaps one of the best known.

in 2010, Murillo had another face-to-face with Arnaldo Otegi, who was being prosecuted for praising ETA member José Mari Sagarduy. On that occasion, the leader of the left abertzale was on hunger strike, and lawyer Jone Goirizelaia asked the judge if the defendant could drink water.