The commissioner requests the annulment as it is a “prospective investigation” and asks to summon the former director of the CNI to testify
MADRID, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prosecutor’s Office has shown its opposition to the nullity of the trial held by the Provincial Court of Madrid against the retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo for allegedly ordering the recording and dissemination of a meeting of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) on Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, known as ‘Little Nicholas’.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office is against annulment,” he said in response to previous questions raised by the defense of Villarejo, that of his wife, Gemma Alcalá, and that of the journalist Carlos Mier.
The Prosecutor’s Office has ratified the reports that it has presented in which it assures that the retired commissioner was aware of the call for the CNI meeting “and planned to record the conversation” with the purpose of later disseminating it in ‘Sensitive Information’ and other media to “thus succeed in hindering, hindering or blocking the ongoing investigation” into Gómez Iglesias.
In its initial indictment, the Public Ministry maintains that the content of the meeting was recorded and later broadcast on said portal. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Alcalá –as head of ‘Sensitive Information’– ordered Mier to record that CNI meeting.
At the meeting, held on October 20, 2014, the then head of the Internal Affairs Unit, Marcelino Martín Blas, informed several CNI agents about the ongoing investigation into ‘Little Nicolás’, whom they had under suspicion for allegedly committing pass –before several businessmen– as a liaison between the Vice Presidency of the Government and the Royal House, and as an Intelligence agent.
This Tuesday, the Prosecutor’s Office has refuted the arguments of the defenses and has assured that it is not a prospective investigation. “That meeting was secret and, therefore, could not be recorded. There is a crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets,” she pointed out.
The prosecutor has recognized that there was no “correct” chain of custody, but has argued that this does not lead to the nullity of the procedure, because the crime attributed to them is not only the recording, but also the dissemination. And he has also stressed that “although the original recording does not exist, all the others do exist”.
At the beginning of the session, Villarejo’s defense has requested the annulment of the trial, considering that the fundamental rights of the commissioner have been violated. “His right to defense has been violated from the beginning,” said lawyer Antonio José García Cabrera.
For the lawyer, this procedure is “a paradigmatic example of an investigation exempt from judicial control.” In his opinion, the investigation that gave rise to the trial on Tuesday “has been exempt from judicial control.” According to him, “control has been left in the hands of the Police and, specifically, of the policemen themselves who had been part of the events under investigation.”
The Prosecutor’s Office, however, has refuted this argument and has said that “it cannot be said that there was no judicial control”.
For Villarejo’s lawyer, “this instruction is an example of what not to do.” “Nothing more than the appearance of impartiality, this could not be”, the lawyer has influenced, while defending that the measures adopted in the investigation could have been “less harmful”.
In his opinion, the interception of telephone calls during the investigations was an “excessive” measure that “violates the right to personal privacy and the secrecy of communications.” “This is very serious,” he said, later advocating for the “rights of the journalistic profession.”
The defense has also questioned the legitimacy of the State Attorney to participate in the trial as an accusation. “It is presented in this piece with a generic writing in which it does not justify the particular accusation. In whose interest is it presented?”, She has pointed out.
The Advocacy has defended its presence and has stressed that it represents the CNI and the Ministry of the Interior. “Of course we have representation in this procedure,” said lawyer Rosa María Seoane.
During the session, the defense of Gemma Alcalá, who has joined the request for annulment of the trial, since she considers that her client’s fundamental rights have been violated, has also spoken.
Villarejo’s wife’s lawyer has defended that the recording that gives rise to the procedure “is manipulated” and that, therefore, “cannot be valued as evidence for the prosecution”, which would lead to the cancellation “of the rest of the proceedings”.
Just as the Commissioner’s defense has done, Alcalá’s lawyer has assured that this is a “prospective and illegal case” that is “stuffed with nullities and very serious irregularities”, for which he considers that “it is impossible to hold a trial with the minimum guarantees. Mier’s defense has also spoken out to request the annulment of the trial.
On the sidelines, and in the event that the court does not consider the previous requests, Alcalá’s lawyer has requested that the popular accusations be expelled from the trial, which, in his opinion, “pursue spurious ends.”
Podemos, which exercises one of the popular accusations, has opposed his expulsion and has recalled that he is involved in several cases, including the ‘Tandem case’, in which Villarejo is the main investigated. “We call for our right to be recognized,” said lawyer Marta Flor Núñez.
The commissioner’s lawyer, for his part, has requested that the former director of the CNI Paz Esteban be summoned to appear, who, according to what he has said, participated in the meeting that appears in the recording that gives rise to this procedure. She has requested, in turn, the summons of several police officers and CNI agents.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office have shown their opposition to agents from the Intelligence Center appearing in court to discuss their work.
The Public Ministry asks the commissioner for four years in prison for the alleged crime of discovery and revelation of secrets. He also requests three years in prison as necessary cooperators for the wife of the commissioner and head of the ‘Informacion Sensitive’ media outlet, Gemma Alcalá, and for the journalist Carlos Mier. The State Attorney requests the same penalties for the same crimes.
Podemos raises his request for disclosure of secrets for Alcalá and Mier to four years in prison and the sentence he urges for Villarejo to five years. In addition, he accuses the three of a crime of procedural fraud for which he claims eight months in prison for each one.
The accusation brought by the Platform for Honesty requests six years in prison for Villarejo and five for Mier and Alcalá for revealing secrets and for belonging to or joining a criminal group. It also adds a crime of procedural fraud for which it requests eight months in prison for each one, and another of insults and slander to public officials in which it claims six more months in prison.
The next session will take place on November 22. Although the defendants were scheduled to testify on the calendar that day, the defenses have asked that they appear at the end. The court has accepted this request, so Villarejo, Alcalá and Mier will testify on December 2.
Thus, the November 22 session will serve to listen to several witnesses, including the former head of Internal Affairs Marcelino Martín Blas and the former deputy director of operations (DAO) Eugenio Pino.
On the rest of the requests, the magistrates have warned that they will rule in the next session or in the sentence.
