The popular prosecution has expressed its "definitive and total opposition" to Judge Juan Carlos Peinado authorizing Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to leave national territory, as she has requested, understanding that there is a "well-founded risk of flight".
This is how the unified popular prosecution, led by Hazte Oír, conveys it in a brief to which Europa Press has had access, in which it requests the magistrate to deny the permit requested by Gómez to travel to Ankara (Turkey) and London (United Kingdom).
For this party, the "concatenation of displacements does nothing but increase the period of exposure to the risk of absconding from justice, extraordinarily hindering any supervision mechanism".
They recall that on June 20, Peinado ordered the withdrawal of Gómez's passport within the case opened against her. Following that decision, the investigated person requested authorization to accompany her husband to a NATO summit in Ankara and to travel later to London for her daughter's graduation.
The prosecution emphasizes that "such measures are due to the existence of rational indications of criminality and a well-founded risk of flight, so that what is now sought by the opposing party is nothing but the partial and temporary lifting of a current precautionary measure, which requires particularly rigorous scrutiny".
Turkey and the United Kingdom, under suspicion for the prosecution
In relation to the trip to Turkey, it maintains that the country "particularly aggravates that risk", as it is "a State outside the European Union, not bound by the European Arrest Warrant system and with respect to which extradition mechanisms are notoriously slower, more uncertain and subject to political expediency conditions".
It further warns: "The eventual absconding of the investigated person in such territory would place her recovery for the proceedings in a situation of grave difficulty, if not practical impossibility."
Regarding the trip to London, the prosecution maintains that attending her daughter's graduation, "however intimate, does not constitute a need of such magnitude when the investigated person is formally indicted and awaiting trial."
It also insists that judicial cooperation between Spain and the United Kingdom after 'Brexit' "has experienced a significant decline compared to the previous European Arrest Warrant regime."
Remember that Gómez faces penalties that could reach up to 24 years in prison for alleged crimes of influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation, and embezzlement of public funds, which, in their opinion, increases the risk of flight. "The more serious the potential sentence, the greater the incentive to flee, and the greater the irreparable damage to the criminal proceedings should it occur," they argue.
The popular prosecution adds that "there is no documentary evidence in the brief submitted by the representative of the investigated party to accredit that the graduation ceremony invoked will effectively be held in London on the indicated dates." In their opinion, "the mere assertion of the party does not, by itself, constitute sufficient accreditation to justify the lifting, even temporarily, of a precautionary measure as serious as the prohibition of leaving national territory."
It concludes that "consequently, the request lacks, on this point, the minimum documentary basis required, which constitutes an autonomous and additional reason for its dismissal."
Alternatively, and only in the event that the judge allows the travel, the prosecution requests that it "be subject to the fulfillment of the reporting and passport return conditions," and that the travel details be recorded "in a separate confidential file during the trip, with its subsequent incorporation into the case once the return has occurred."
Gómez's defense insists on travel guarantees
Conversely, Gómez's defense stated in their brief that they would fly to Ankara "with the Spanish delegation and on an official plane" on July 7 to accompany the President of the Government "to the 36th Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government."
The lawyer Antonio Camacho specified that "the return will be via London to be able to attend his daughter's graduation," and that the return to Spain would take place "on a commercial flight on July 10 from Great Britain."
The lawyer also stressed that "in any case, the entire trip will be made with the security team that accompanies the President of the Government on all his trips, which in itself already guarantees the absolute security of all my client's movements."
In parallel, the president's wife's lawyer has filed a complaint with the Provincial Court of Madrid against the order in which Peinado sent Gómez and her advisor, Cristina Álvarez, to trial by popular jury for alleged crimes of influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation, and embezzlement of public funds.
The magistrate adopted this decision after the popular prosecutions led by Hazte Oír expressly requested it at the preliminary hearing held at the Plaza de Castilla courts.
In its appeal, Gómez's defense asks the higher court to annul both the withdrawal of her passport and the other two precautionary measures imposed by Peinado on her and her advisor: the prohibition of leaving Spain and the obligation to appear every fifteen days in court.