Five judges from Section 23 of the Provincial Court of Madrid are deliberating this Monday on the appeals against Judge Peinado's decision to send Begoña Gómez to trial with a jury.
The Provincial Court of Madrid has put the judicial future of Begoña Gómez, wife of the Prime Minister, on the table this Monday. Five judges from Section 23, gathered in a reinforced chamber, are analysing the appeals filed against the decision of the instructor Juan Carlos Peinado to place Gómez in the dock of a popular tribunal.
The judges are not only reviewing the situation of the main investigated party. They are also studying the appeals related to her advisor Cristina Álvarez and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, both also affected by Peinado's decision to send the case to trial. The resolution is not expected this Monday: legal sources indicate that the judges must draft a reasoned order and that the deliberation could extend beyond a day given the complexity of the matters.
Key Deliberation on the Popular Jury
The Court has previously corrected Judge Peinado. On a previous occasion, it annulled for lack of motivation the first order with which the instructor agreed to transform the case to be judged by a popular jury. Now, Peinado issued a new order on April 11 concluding the instruction and insisting on sending the three investigated parties to trial for alleged crimes of influence peddling, business corruption, embezzlement, and misappropriation.
The magistrate, however, archived the alleged crime of professional intrusion related to the signing of documents about the software developed within the university chair that Gómez co-directed. The popular accusation, coordinated by Hazte Oír, has also appealed this archive, and the judges are analysing it along with the other appeals.
The Prosecutor's Office and the defenses, for their part, have maintained from the outset that there is no crime. Both parties have criticised the instruction as being prospective and argue that Gómez is being investigated simply for being the wife of the Prime Minister. Now, the Court must decide whether to confirm or revoke the instructor's criteria.
Clash with Moncloa over the Passport
The deliberation coincides with a new front opened between the Executive and Judge Peinado. On the same Monday, a ruling was made public in which the instructor requires Begoña Gómez to prove, within a period of five days, that she used her passport solely to travel to the United Kingdom. The judge notes that the document "does not show any exit or entry diligence on the authorised days" and wants to verify that there was no possible breach of the precautionary measures.
The temporary return of the passport was authorised last week by the substitute judge Antonio Viejo, while Peinado was on holiday. The permission was granted to attend Gómez's daughter's graduation in the UK. From Moncloa, they maintain that the ruling demonstrates the "obsession", "persecution", and "public harassment" that, in their opinion, Begoña Gómez suffers due to "political motivations".
The Government replies that the absence of stamps in the passport is due to the implementation of digital border control systems. They also recall that the UK has been using the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) since January and that the EU will implement a biometric entry and exit system in October that will replace physical stamps. In their view, the judge's demand is unfounded and evidences a disproportionate action.
For the residents of the Community of Madrid, the case has particular interest: the investigation affects the Complutense University, one of the most important academic centres in the region, and the decision of the Provincial Court, based in Madrid, will set a significant judicial precedent. If the Court confirms the trial with a jury, it will be the first time that the wife of a sitting Prime Minister stands in the dock of a popular tribunal in Spain.
The final resolution will be known in the coming days, once the judges draft the order. Meanwhile, the standoff between the judge and the Executive shows no signs of abating, and the case continues to dominate headlines and political discussions.
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