MADRID, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The defense of José Manuel Villarejo has requested this Tuesday the annulment of the trial held by the Provincial Court of Madrid against the retired commissioner for allegedly ordering to record and broadcast a meeting of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) on Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, known as ‘ Little Nicholas’.
“I request the annulment of the entire case for violation of rights, because the entire case has been contaminated. Their right to defense has been violated from the beginning,” said lawyer Antonio García Cabrera.
The lawyer has insisted that Villarejo’s rights have been violated because this procedure is “a paradigmatic example of an investigation exempt from judicial control.” “The police officers involved in the recording are placed at the forefront of the investigation,” he assured.
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.
Villarejo’s lawyer has thus pronounced himself in the framework of the first session of the trial which, according to the court’s calendar, will last at least until December 2nd.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests a four-year prison sentence for the commissioner for the alleged crime of discovery and revelation of secrets.
In addition, the Public Ministry 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 requested the same sentences for the same crimes.
The accusation brought by 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 accused the three of a crime of procedural fraud for which he claims eight months in prison for each one.
For its part, 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. He also adds a crime of procedural fraud for which he requested eight months in prison for each, and another of insults and slander to public officials in which he claimed six more months in prison.
The events date back to a meeting held on October 20, 2014 between the commissioner then head of the Internal Affairs Unit Marcelino Martín Blas and some agents from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to whom he was going to inform about the ongoing investigation. about ‘Little Nicolás’, whom they had under suspicion for allegedly posing as a liaison between the Vice Presidency of the Government and the Royal House, and as an Intelligence agent.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Villarejo was aware of the call for that meeting “and planned to record the conversation” with the purpose of later disseminating it in ‘Sensitive Information’ and other media “and thus succeed in hindering, hindering or blocking the ongoing investigation” about Gomez Iglesias.
The content of the meeting was recorded and later broadcast on said portal, of which Alcalá was the owner, and in which Mier worked. The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that it was Villarejo’s wife who ordered the journalist to record that meeting.
