The spokesperson for the Popular Group in the Assembly, José Ángel Sánchez Juliá, has reiterated that politics should not be brought into assessing procedural strategies, in reference to the actions of Beatriz Biedma, after the magistrate in the case of Pedro Sánchez’s brother asked the judge Santiago Pedraz to cite Cintia Rocho as a witness.
Nonetheless, at the press conference after the Board of Spokespersons, Sánchez Juliá has again demanded that the PSOE answer the question of "who gave the order to get rid of" the magistrate, insisting that the socialists still have not provided a clear explanation.
He has also recalled that at the last full session the Assembly spoke "politically" in favor of the judge and condemned "everything that the PSOE’s dirty tricks operation has done," an initiative that went ahead despite the vote against by the socialist group in the Extremaduran parliament.
The PP leader has stressed that "The Socialist Party has to provide explanations of what is happening," even more so after it became known that "652 WhatsApp messages have been provided that show that the dirty tricks operation was coordinated with the Socialist Party in order to topple the case of the 'little brother dearest'."
The PSOE appeals to the separation of powers
For his part, the PSOE spokesperson in the Assembly, Isabel Gil Rosiña, has defended the separation of powers, emphasizing that judges must do their "work" and investigate "to the very end whatever has to be investigated," while political officials must focus on their own work, which in the case of her party, she said, involves pushing responses to the different needs of citizens.
"We as political officials are not concerned about every step that this investigation (into the alleged PSOE dirty tricks operation) takes... Let it be investigated to the very end whatever has to be investigated, but that question is not the subject of our work, not at all," she said to the media, when asked about the request to summon Cintia Rocho as a witness due to alleged contacts with the PSOE’s "dirty tricks operation."
After stressing that it is a case that "is in the courts, in a very early stage of investigation" and in which different witnesses could be called, he has insisted that "justice should do its work," while political representatives must dedicate themselves to other priorities.
"What are we here for? We are here so that transport workers receive support because fuel has gone up and people have to spend a lot of gasoline to go into the countryside with tractors. We are here to protect the data of the Servicio Extremeño de Salud, so that the Consejo de la Juventud de Extremadura does not close, so that the minister explains to us what has happened with the fires this summer, and so that Judge Biedma and all the judges of Badajoz and of Spain do their job, that we are going to do ours, that it is not the one of Justice," as Gil Rosiña has stated.
Unidas por Extremadura questions the credibility of the witnesses
The spokesperson for Unidas por Extremadura, Irene de Miguel, criticized the attempt to grant "absolute veracity" to "the testimonies of people who have lived off crime, off corruption, such as Aldama, or as presumably is the Rochos clan, which everyone in Badajoz knows as a clan that is dedicated to what it is dedicated to."
"This is the dystopia in which we live right now. Being a good person is frowned upon, and it seems that when you are a criminal but you defend the party or the interests of the corresponding party, then you appear on all the televisions and you also have all the veracity in the world from certain media," the deputy has sentenced.
Along these lines, she has admitted that it is difficult for her "to 'understand' that 'characters' who, in her view, 'should have very little credibility because of their criminal record' now go on to receive 'all the credibility whenever the Partido Popular is interested in it.'"
Vox talks about a regrettable and disgusting matter
Finally, the spokesperson for the Vox Parliamentary Group, Inés Checa, described the case as "regrettable and disgusting," inasmuch as it is being investigated how the PSOE "has tried to get a judge out of the way because it bothered her that she carried out her work rigorously."
For the Vox deputy, it is "one more proof of the immediate urgency" that, she has stated, citizens have to "remove this criminal mafia from the Government of Spain," referring to the electoral appointment scheduled for next 29 November.