Pedro Sánchez, Ferdinand VII and Russian spies: judges also do literature

BarcelonaWith the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and his wife on the other side of the world, on an official visit to China, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has closed the investigation and sent Begoña Gómez to trial. He did so this Monday in an order full of historical and literary references, unusual in legal language. As he has done throughout the investigation, in his latest order, Peinado shows great interest in linking her to her husband, despite the fact that Sánchez's role is not part of the investigation. He refers to her as "the wife of" up to four times, insisting that Gómez's professional activity experienced notable growth once Sánchez arrived at Moncloa.

But this is not the most controversial element of the document. Given the difficulty of finding jurisprudence that supports his thesis on influence peddling in this case, Peinado states that to find something similar "one would have to go back to the reign of Ferdinand VII". The judge concludes harshly: "No matter how much one searches jurisprudence (...) one will not find a case with similar characteristics, since the conduct that comes from presidential palaces, such as this alleged case, seems more typical of absolutist regimes, fortunately, long forgotten in our State". A comparison that places the president's official residence at the center of a plot with autocratic reminiscences.This is not the first time Peinado has found himself in the eye of the storm. In June 2025, in a slip of the tongue that the defense teams branded as "lack of rigor", the judge declared Begoña Gómez dead in a document sent to the Supreme Court to investigate the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños: "The last time was at the funeral home for the death of Mrs. Begoña Gómez", he wrote, when he actually meant Begoña's father's funeral. In June 2024, Peinado had been criticized for attempting to mount a "general cause" by defining his object of investigation as "all acts, behaviors, and conduct" of Gómez since her husband became president, a prospective formula prohibited by Spanish law.The "trident" of controversy

Hairstyle is not free verse, but has become the latest vertex of a triangle of judges who have set the political pulse of the State with heavily questioned decisions. One is the now-retired Manuel García-CastellónThree magistrates, three styles, but one constant: the ability to transform the judicial process into a first-order political confrontation scenario.