Overview
- Spain’s ecological transition minister Sara Aagesen and the State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed his death at age 72.
- Vercher served as the first national coordinator for environment and urbanism crimes from 2006 to his retirement in September 2025, building a specialist network of prosecutors with support from the Guardia Civil.
- He made illegal waste trafficking and wildfire prevention core priorities and urged lawmakers to criminalize the burning of waste, a proposal that did not pass.
- He warned that China’s 2018 ban on foreign waste and Spain’s 2022 residues law pushed more trash into risky handling at home, which he linked to fires at dumps and treatment plants.
- A prolific scholar who also worked at Spain’s Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the EU Court of Justice and the European council of prosecutors, he drew tributes from national leaders as his hometown declared three days of mourning.