The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has agreed to admit a complaint by Podemos against the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, the former Deputy Director of Operations (DAO) Eugenio Pino and other senior officials of the Police for the alleged prospective and extraneous investigations to judicial control over the people who made up that political organization.
In a ruling, the head of the Five Central Court of Instruction partially admits Podemos’s complaint, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office, and refuses to investigate the former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz, the former Director General of the Police Ignacio Cosidó and other officials. police.
The complaint was filed for crimes of criminal organization, seizure and disclosure of secrets, administrative prevarication and document falsification. He was also presented for embezzlement and for a crime against State institutions, although in these two cases the magistrate rejected it as both types of crimes could not be subsumed in the events reported.
In its letter, Podemos pointed out that the defendants, under the leadership of the Secretary of State for Security, Francisco Martínez, who in turn periodically reported to the Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz, with the latter having final decision-making capacity, taking advantage of his status as public authority and with the collaboration of police agents, “were in charge of carrying out prospective investigations unrelated to any police interest, not under judicial control or the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the people who made up Podemos.”
The main objective, according to this formation, was its subsequent leak to the media under the seal of reliability of the “police sources” and to discredit Podemos in the eyes of public opinion, as well as thus attacking the indemnity of its deputies and remaining public positions.
This way of operating, the complaint indicates, took place in eight actions, such as the investigation of party leader Pablo Iglesias in the PISA report, the leak of a “false” document from an account in his name at the Euro Pacific Bank Limited or the manipulation of documents or internal police records to give the appearance of legality to the actions of the defendants.
In his order, Judge Pedraz explains that after examining the complaint and verifying that some of the facts would indeed be within the jurisdiction of the National Court and constitute a criminal offense, their admission is appropriate, although partially.
Regarding the facts and people that are inadmissible, the magistrate affirms that the report of the complaint does not appear to have been affirmed or supported by evidence that all the defendants participated in their actions with the criminal purpose that is alleged. In this sense, he says, it is not apparent that the defendants Jorge Fernández Díaz, Ignacio Cosidó, Bonifacio Diez Sevillano, José Manuel García Catalán, Manuel Vázquez López and Mariano Hervás intervened in the investigation of events relating to deputies with the criminal purpose attributed in the complaint and without compliance with the legal standards required to carry out an investigation of the deputies.
“It should be noted that neither Minister Jorge Fernández Diaz nor the Director General of the Police, Ignacio Cosidó, reports anything other than an assumption that due to the positions they held, they should know and authorize the facts. Said imputation is insufficient to admit the complaint against them. It is said of the general director that he would have leaked information to the press, which is a statement that does not support the accusation of having participated in or consented to investigations against members of Parliament. All of this, the instructor warns, without prejudice to the fact that in the course of the investigation of the case, evidence against them appeared.
Regarding the proceedings requested by Podemos, the magistrate rejects the testimonial statements of journalists as they refer to the media’s sources of information, “journalism professionals are not obliged to testify about them.”
He adds that it does not appear in the report of events that the media participated in the dissemination of false news knowing that they were false, so their activity is protected by professional secrecy and by article 20 of the Constitution that recognizes the right to information.
The judge does admit to practicing others, such as requesting from the Central Court of Instruction Six various information that works in the Tándem case, such as the procedures related to the examination of the content of the messages that were on Francisco Martínez’s mobile phone.
