Make Yourself Heard asks for 24 years in prison for Begoña Gómez

After the investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado has closed the investigation of the case and has left Begoña Gómez one step away from trial, it is the turn of the accusers to request the sentence. This is what the ultra platform Hazte Oír has done this Monday, which acts as a popular accuser in the proceedings along with Manos Limpias, and demands 24 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement, influence peddling, business corruption, and misappropriation. This is evident from a document to which ARA has had access and which the lawyer for Hazte Oir has presented to the court. Precisely because of the high request for a custodial sentence, it asks for the passport of Pedro Sánchez's wife to be withdrawn due to the risk of flight.

The same accuser states that, for the trial, which would be held by popular jury —formed by citizens chosen by lot—, they would want the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félez Bolaños, to testify as witnesses. Likewise, they also request the presence of the businessman linked to the Koldo case, Víctor de Almada, and the CEO of Air Europa, Javier Hidalgo. The other popular accuser in the trial, the ultra union Manos Limpias, has requested up to 10 years in prison for the PSOE leader's wife.

In any case, it is not yet clear that it will go to trial. It should be taken into account that Gómez's defense has filed an appeal with the Provincial Court of Madrid to annul the closure of the investigation by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado. Therefore, it will be this court that will have the final say on whether Gómez should finally sit on the defendant's bench. So far, it has endorsed the core of the investigation but has amended it on several occasions, such as the decision to hold two separate trials with a popular jury, the investigation into the Air Europa rescue, or the indictment of the Spanish government delegate in Madrid. In this regard, in fact, is what the Spanish government clings to, which last week openly criticized Peinado.

According to Moncloa, this is a political persecution by this judge within the Spanish president's circle, while Peinado's thesis is that she used her condition as Sánchez's wife to "influence". On the one hand, the investigation focuses on the collection of money for the chair she co-directed at the Complutense University of Madrid, which, according to Peinado, Begoña would have actually used to enrich herself personally. At the same time, Sánchez's wife would have offered advantages to the businessmen with whom she collaborated in order to have contacts with the administration. On the other hand, Peinado is also investigating the use of an assistant assigned by Moncloa to do private work. This advisor, Cristina Álvarez, is also accused along with the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, and to whom Hazte Oír requests 22 years in prison and six, respectively.