Begoña Gómez's defense clashes with controversial judge Peinado over an audience called from one day to the next

The controversial judge Juan Carlos Peinado has refused to postpone Begoña Gómez's preliminary hearing, wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and maintains the appointment for this Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Her lawyer, Jaime Campaner, had requested a new scheduling because he had to travel to Barcelona to attend another judicial commitment.

According to sources from the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) cited by EFE, Peinado considers that the defense can send another lawyer. The magistrate has also clarified that Gómez and her advisor in La Moncloa, Cristina Álvarez, must be personally summoned, although their physical presence during the hearing is dispensable.

In the document to which 'ElConstitucional.es' has had access, Campaner explains that he received the summons just a few minutes before requesting its suspension. The judge had set the hearing from one day to the next, after the defenses presented their conclusions and maintained their intention to participate in this last step of the investigation.

The lawyer states that he bought a ticket from Palma de Mallorca to Barcelona on July 22 to fly this Tuesday at 5:50 p.m. The trip was organized before he assumed Gómez's defense and its purpose is to attend another judicial appointment on Wednesday morning. Campaner informed the court of his availability to attend any afternoon this week and detailed that he will return to Madrid on Wednesday at 6:17 p.m.

Peinado rules out the co-director of the chair

The order consulted by this newspaper also rejects the statement of José Manuel Ruano de la Fuente, full professor of Political Science at the Complutense University of Madrid and co-director of the Extraordinary Chair of Competitive Social Transformation together with Gómez. It was the only complementary diligence requested by her defense for the hearing.

Peinado considers that his testimony lacks an essential character to decide on the opening of the oral trial, although he allows it to be requested again during the eventual prosecution. At this Tuesday's hearing, the defenses will insist on the acquittal of Gómez and Álvarez, a position shared by the Prosecutor's Office against the popular accusations that sustain the procedure.