The Madrid Court stops the far-right Vox and rejects to charge Mercedes González in the first case of 'Leire case'

The Provincial Court of Madrid has rejected the attempt by the far-right Vox to include the director general of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, in the first case opened for the actions of Leire Díez. The Fifth Section has confirmed the decision of Judge Arturo Zamarriego, who already refused to expand the investigation based on the complaint filed by the far-right party.

The order, dated July 10 and known this Tuesday, states that Vox articulated its appeal on a single ground, the alleged violation of its right to effective judicial protection, but did not provide concrete facts that would allow questioning the instructor's criterion.

"It should be understood that if there had been indications of facts with a criminal appearance, the appellant would have made them explicit," the magistrates point out. The Chamber considers that the party merely accused Zamarriego of applying an excessively formalistic criterion, without presenting arguments capable of disproving the reasons why he dismissed the complaint.

A complaint built with clippings and recordings

The resolution states that the accusations against Mercedes González were built on press clippings and publicly disseminated recordings. The Public Prosecutor's Office had already defined its content as a sum of "vague and imprecise statements," a valuation that the Madrid Court now assumes.

The alleged participation of the director general was based, according to the court, on the fact that different journalistic sources coincided in attributing some degree of intervention to her and that González had received Leire Díez. For the Chamber, these references were insufficient to open a new line of investigation within the case directed by Zamarriego.

The magistrates also rule out that the decision has limited Vox's right to promote criminal action. The party obtained a reasoned response to its request and to the legal qualification of the facts it had presented. The Court understands that the instructor sufficiently explained why he rejected its processing.

Mercedes González remains under investigation by Pedraz

The scope of the order is limited to this complaint and the procedure followed in the Plaza de Castilla courts. Mercedes González remains under investigation in another subsequent case of the National Court, directed by Judge Santiago Pedraz and opened based on proceedings that did not yet exist when Vox filed its criminal action at the end of 2025.

Pedraz agreed in early July to investigate González and the operational deputy director of the Civil Guard, Manuel Llamas, for possible crimes of prevarication and obstruction of justice. The Central Operative Unit documented three meetings between the general director and Leire Díez, held on September 30 and December 20, 2024, and April 2, 2025.

González testified before the magistrate on July 17 and disassociated herself from any maneuver against the investigators of the Armed Institute. She acknowledged two meetings with Díez, whom she presented as an independent journalist going through professional difficulties, and assured that she never received from her a request to stop cases related to the PSOE or Pedro Sánchez's circle.

The general director explained that in the last meeting Díez proposed the reinstatement of Commander Rubén Villalba, investigated in the 'Koldo case'. González maintained that she rejected the request immediately and left the meeting. Before Pedraz, she also claimed to feel like a "victim" of Leire Díez and the former socialist Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán.

Her version clashes with the suspicions gathered in the UCO reports on the internal investigations opened for possible leaks. González has defended that these were ordinary administrative actions and has denied any pressure on the agents. Fernando Grande-Marlaska maintains his confidence in her and has ruled out removing her from her duties while the investigation progresses.

Zamarriego, for his part, keeps Leire Díez, businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, and journalist Pere Rusiñol under investigation. The judge is trying to determine if they participated in a continuous and coordinated action to obtain compromising information from Civil Guard officers, prosecutors, and judges with the intention of obstructing investigations affecting political leaders and businessmen.

Maneuvers against Judge Biedma are excluded

The Provincial Court has confirmed in a second resolution that the alleged maneuvers against Judge Beatriz Biedma will also not be incorporated into this case. The court has dismissed Hazte Oír's appeal against another decision by Zamarriego, who had already refused to expand his inquiries into attempts to obtain information about the magistrate who investigated David Sánchez.

The complaint filed in Badajoz is directed against former judge Luis José Sáenz de Tejada for events in which Biedma would appear as the injured party. The Chamber considers that these are crimes of a different nature and that the contextual coincidence with the actions attributed to Leire Díez is insufficient to investigate them jointly.

The UCO had gathered from open sources that Sáenz de Tejada would have tried to recuse the magistrate. The Madrid judges conclude that joining both procedures would be useless to clarify the facts and determine possible responsibilities. The actions related to Biedma must follow, if applicable, a separate judicial channel.