Eugenio Pino and José Manuel Villarejo testify at the trial of the Kitchen case

San Fernando de HenaresThe statements of the accused in the Kitchen case trial continue. After Jorge Fernández Díaz and Francisco Martínez played dumb and, despite some contradictions, distanced themselves from the espionage against Luis Bárcenas, it is now the turn of Eugenio Pino – who was deputy operational director of the National Police – and José Manuel Villarejo – a retired commissioner of the Spanish police. The Prosecutor's Office is requesting fifteen years in prison for Pino and nineteen years for Villarejo, which is the highest sentence, for alleged crimes of concealment, embezzlement, violation of privacy, and passive personal bribery.

Fernández Díaz distances himself from Operation Kitchen: "I didn't know it existed, no one had told me about it"

In recent weeks, the National High Court has heard dozens of audios from the retired commissioner, which are the essence of the documentary evidence of the trial. Among them, conversations were heard with María Dolores de Cospedal –former general secretary of the PP– and her ex-husband, the businessman Ignacio López del Ferro. Conversations were also heard with Francisco Martínez, with commissioner Andrés Gómez Gordo, with businessman Adrián de la Joia, and with José Luis Olivera –former head of the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) of the National Police, who also sits on the defendant's bench.