The 'Kitchen' case faces its last week of trial with the final reports of the defenses

More than three months after the start of the oral hearing, the trial for the so-called 'Kitchen case' is now facing its decisive phase in the Audiencia Nacional. The court expects to conclude the case for judgment this week, once the reports of the four defenses that still remain to intervene are finished and the eight defendants decide whether to exercise their right to the last word.

The defense of former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo will open the last round of final reports and will personally participate in his defense during the hearing, accompanied by his lawyer, Antonio José García Cabrera, as confirmed by legal sources consulted by 'EFE'. 

After the intervention of Villarejo's defense, it will be the turn of the lawyers of commissioner Andrés Gómez Gordo, of Luis Bárcenas' former chauffeur, Sergio Ríos, and of commissioner José Luis Olivera. Once these presentations conclude, the eight defendants will be able to decide whether to exercise their right to the last word before the court concludes the case for judgment.

The first conclusions of the defenses

The final arguments began last week with the interventions of the defenses of former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz and former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, who defended different positions on the investigated operation.

The defense of former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz rejected last Wednesday that his client participated in the alleged parapolice operation of the 'Kitchen case', an investigation focused on the alleged obtaining of information from former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas. During his final report before the Audiencia Nacional, lawyer Jesús Mandri argued that there is not enough evidence to prove the responsibility of the former popular leader and demanded his acquittal.

Mandri assured that Fernández Díaz "was never interested in Bárcenas' papers" and that the information he might keep about leaders of the Popular Party "he didn't care about at all." For this reason, he demanded the acquittal of his client considering that, after the presentation of the evidence, the commission of none of the crimes attributed to him has been proven.

"An intelligence operation"

The defense also maintained that 'Kitchen' was not a parapolice device aimed at protecting the Popular Party, but an "intelligence operation" whose objective was to locate the money that Bárcenas allegedly kept hidden and identify possible straw men.

Mandri also denied that Fernández Díaz occupied the "apex" of the alleged plot and questioned that the accusation is based on messages attributed to the former minister and protocolized by the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, recalling that these messages did not appear on his client's phone, who, he maintained, voluntarily handed over his device during the investigation.