Kitchen Case: The Prosecutor's Office implicates Fernández Díaz in the PP's parapolice operation under the Rajoy Government and requests up to 19 years in prison for Villarejo

The oral hearing of the 'Kitchen operation' enters its final stretch with the conclusions of the Prosecutor's Office, which attributes a key role to the former Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, in the alleged parapolice operation developed during the Government of Mariano Rajoy to obtain sensitive information from the former treasurer of the PP, Luis Bárcenas, while the Gürtel corruption plot was being investigated.

Prosecutor César de Rivas has deemed the former minister's participation in what he has defined as a "criminal parapolice operation" to be proven, a clandestine structure that, according to his presentation before the Audiencia Nacional, did not aim to locate money abroad, but to obtain compromising documentation from the Gürtel case, including recordings that could affect leaders of the Popular Party.

In his intervention, the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office insisted that the operation cannot be considered an intelligence device, but an illicit action developed outside judicial control to steal sensitive material from the former treasurer's environment.

"The participation, from the moment of the recruitment of Sergio Ríos – Bárcenas' driver – of both Francisco Martínez, Secretary of State, and Jorge Fernández Díaz, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, has been proven in the plenary session," the prosecutor stressed, alluding to incriminating messages incorporated into the procedure.

Penalties requested in the Kitchen case: up to 19 years for Villarejo

The Public Prosecutor's Office demands 15 years in prison for Jorge Fernández Díaz, considering him a relevant piece within the investigated structure. The same penalty is requested for the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, the former DAO of the Civil Guard Eugenio Pino and Inspector Andrés Gómez Gordo.

In the case of former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, the request for a sentence amounts to 19 years in prison, while for Bárcenas' former driver, Sergio Ríos, the Prosecutor's Office demands 12 and a half years in prison for his role as an informant in the operation.

Last sessions of the trial before the final reports

The procedure of the Kitchen case faces its final days with the testimony of the last defendants who remained to appear before the National Court. These sessions put an end to the testimonial phase of a trial that has analyzed the alleged operation to spy on Luis Bárcenas during Rajoy's years in government with the aim of obtaining information related to the Gürtel plot.

In this final stretch, other investigated individuals have also intervened, some without formal accusation from the Prosecutor's Office, although pointed out by private and popular accusations, which request sentences that together reach tens of years in prison.

Among them, the Bárcenas family, together with the popular accusation exercised by PSOE and Podemos, maintains its request for conviction for several of the defendants, considering it proven that they knew of the existence of the operation and its illegal nature.

After these last appearances, the trial will enter the final conclusions phase, in which the Prosecutor's Office, accusations, and defenses will present their definitive arguments before the court is ready for judgment.