The PP attacks Sánchez after the jury trial of Begoña Gómez is confirmed: "No democrat should normalize it"

The Popular Party has escalated its offensive against Pedro Sánchez this Thursday after the Provincial Court of Madrid endorsed Begoña Gómez being tried by a popular jury for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds. Génova considers that the resolution places the President of the Government in an "unprecedented" situation and maintains that "no democrat should normalize it".

The popular leadership has linked the judicial decision with the conviction for prevarication issued this same week against David Sánchez, the brother of the head of the Executive. "In the same week that the brother of the President of the Government has been convicted of prevarication, it is confirmed that his wife will sit on a bench", party sources have indicated.

The PP assures that this scenario would be "inconceivable in any European democracy" and relates it to the judicial cases affecting former leaders, officials, and people related to the PSOE. The popular party once again speaks of "127 imputations for corruption" around Sánchez and his party, a figure that is part of the political count prepared and disseminated by the party itself.

The PP proclaims that "Justice works"

Génova has used the resolution to defend the independence of the courts against the criticisms launched in recent months by the Government against the investigation by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado. "Today a higher instance confirms some measures of the investigating judge and corrects others, demonstrating that Justice works", states the communiqué sent by the PP to the media.

The popular party has accompanied this assessment with a direct attack on the president. "As happens in any democracy, much to the chagrin of Pedro Sánchez and his spokesmen", they added. The party contrasts this order with the Executive's celebration of the recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the Amnesty Law.

"We assume that the Government's euphoria over the separation of powers will have lasted as long as it took to learn of this decision", Génova ironizes. The PP accuses Sánchez of accepting judicial resolutions when they are favorable and links this attitude with the criticism launched a day earlier by Alberto Núñez Feijóo against authoritarian leaders.

The deputy secretary of Regional and Municipal Policy of the PP, Elías Bendodo, has also linked the two cases affecting the president's family environment. "The wife of the President of the Government, in the dock for influence peddling and embezzlement. The brother of the President of the Government, convicted," wrote the popular leader, who maintains that corruption is "embedded" in Sánchez's environment.

The Audiencia maintains the jury but shortens the case

The resolution of Section 23 of the Provincial Court of Madrid partially supports the path opened by Peinado. The magistrates consider that there are in this phase sufficient rational indications for the procedure to continue for influence peddling and embezzlement, without yet making an assessment of Begoña Gómez's guilt, who maintains her presumption of innocence intact.

The court dismisses, however, the crime of corruption in business by not appreciating sufficiently solid indications that Gómez received unjustified gifts or economic advantages. It also eliminates misappropriation as an autonomous crime and places the behaviors related to the Complutense University software within possible embezzlement. The case thus goes from the four crimes proposed by Peinado to two.

The Provincial Court also revokes all personal precautionary measures imposed by the instructor. Begoña Gómez will recover her passport and will be able to leave Spain without judicial authorization, while the obligation to appear every fifteen days before the court is annulled. The magistrates consider that the controversial judge Peinado did not justify the existence of a real risk of flight that would allow those restrictions to be maintained.

The same measures are lifted for Cristina Álvarez, Gómez's advisor at La Moncloa, who will continue in the procedure solely for an alleged crime of embezzlement. The Audiencia also temporarily removes businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés from the jury trial and orders that the investigation into his actions continue in a separate piece.

Moncloa denounces a "political case"

The Government has responded defending Begoña Gómez's innocence and describing Peinado's instruction as a political cause. Moncloa sources maintain that the procedure originated from a complaint built on false information and that its purpose is to harass and persecute the wife of the Prime Minister.

The PSOE has used a similar tone and has denounced the "harassment and obsession" against Sánchez's family. Its Organization Secretary, Rebeca Torró, has spoken of an "obscene political witch hunt", while Sumar has called it "absurd" that the procedure finally reaches a popular jury.

Óscar Puente has highlighted that the resolution was announced on the same day as the European ruling on the amnesty. "It's all coincidences", the Minister of Transport ironized when sharing both news, suggesting that the decision on Begoña Gómez has served to shift the political debate a few hours after the European court's pronouncement.